Relative support group of long-stay psychiatric patients

Abstract

It is now widely recognised that families represent a hidden and largely unacknowledged resource to the NHS in the day to day management of long-term disabilities, particularly severe mental problems like schizophrenia. It is most likely that 50–60% of first admission schizophrenic patients will return to some type of family environment and a significant number will remain with the family for a considerable time. The current trend towards community management of mental illness, hampered by the lack of community provision, almost inevitably means discharge to families and is likely to continue and increase further.