Background:Caring is a fundamental issue in the rehabilitation of a person with mental illness and more so for people with severe mental illness. The lack of adequate manpower resources in the country is adding and enlisting the responsibility of providing care on the families to provide physical, medical, social and psychological care for their severely unwell mentally ill people.Aim of the Study:To examine the load of caregiving with reference to the types of care during the symptomatic and remission phases of severe mental illness and the various ways in which caregivers adapt their lives to meet the needs of people with severe mental illness.Materials and Methods:The present research draws its data from the 200 families with mental illness in Andra Pradesh and Karnataka in India. The data presented in the study was collected from interviews using an interview schedule with open-ended questions.Results:The study diffuses the notion of ‘care’ as ‘physical’, ‘medical, ‘psychological’ and ‘social’ care. The present article focuses on the caregiving roles of the caregivers of people with schizophrenia, affective disorders and psychosis not otherwise specified (NOS) and found that the caregiving does not differ much between the different diagnosis, but caregiving roles changes from active involvement in physical and medical care to more of social and psychological care during the remission.Conclusion:The study records the incredulous gratitude of caregivers at being acknowledged for the work they do. In that regard, the study itself provides a boost to the morale of tired, unacknowledged caregivers.

Background:Persons with disabilities comprise at least 4 to 8 percent of the Indian population. Children with disabilities in India are subject to multiple deprivations and limited opportunities in several dimensions of their lives. Their families and caregivers also go through lot of stress and challenges in having a person with disability at home which ultimately leads to grave discriminatory practices towards these children.Materials and Methods:The article attempts to analyze and describe the common discriminatory grounds that children with disabilities commonly face from their immediate families and from the larger community through analyzing the filed visit reports of the Basic Needs India Staff providing on job training (handholding support) for the community based rehabilitation workers.Results:The case studies describes the various ugly forms of the discriminatory practices seen in the community towards differently abled children, same been categorized as denial of disability, physical restraints, social boycott, denial of property rights, decreased marital life prospects due to disabled member in family, implications on sexuality of people with disability, women with disability, discrepancies in state welfare programs, and problems in measuring disabilities.Conclusion:During the last two decades, there has been a growing realization that institutional care for the disabled is not entirely suitable for their individual needs, dignity and independence. A movement towards community based rehabilitation has picked up pace and contribute toward greater independence and self sustainability of the disabled.

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Caregivers are a largely understudied, unsung population who shoulder many of the social and psychological costs of mental illness. This study examines the load of caregiving during symptomatic and stabilised phases of the mentally ill and the various ways in which family members adapt themselves to give care. Drawing its data from 200 families with mental illness in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the study diffuses the notion of care as physical, medical, psychological and social. The article focuses on how the gender of the affected person affects caregiving and underlines the indispensability of the family. Used to giving credit for any improvement to doctors and medicines, the study records the Indian Journal of Gender Studies 18(3) 405-424

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