Mental disorders: The meaning for relatives

Abstract

The study took place at a public psychiatric hospital’s day-unit, in the municipal district of Fortaleza-Ceará-Brazil. Its main objective was to identify the meaning of the mental disorders for the relatives of the diseases carriers. This study consisted on a qualitative-ethnographic research. The informers who took part on the investigation were 20 disease carriers’ relatives, mostly mothers, from predominant low socioeconomic level. Data were collected through the following instruments: participative observation, semi-structured interviews containing eight opened questions and a field diary. Data were analyzed by means of the content analysis referential. In what concerns the meaning that the relatives attribute to the mental upsets, it was possible to observe that they relate such phenomena to disease, unbalance, suffering and great complication. In respect to the causes they attribute to the disease there were detected biological, psychological and social causes. Concerning companionship, it was observed that it varied from harmonious to blocked. In relation to the supposed consequences and marks of that conviviality, there were configured the following categories: trauma, disharmony, frustration and stress. When asked about handlings and feelings in face of the presented crises, it was observed that they demonstrate anguish as well as patience. After this research, it was possible to conclude that a mental upset is still a not understood phenomenon, difficult to deal with, filled with preconceptions and stigmas by the disease carrier’s relatives.