Relatives of people who suffer from a severe
mental disorder experience a  heavy
burden, according to a thesis by Margareta Östman, Lund University
Hospital, Sweden. Margareta Östman is also an almoner in the
care of outpatients in Lund. Her thesis reveals that psychiatric
care does not utilize relatives’ knowledge, in spite of the
well-known fact that the family is of great importance for the patient’s
rehabilitation. Relatives are put in an inferior position, and their
opinion is not taken seriously in the contact with the psychiatric
services, according to Margareta Östman. Investigations about
relatives of mentally ill people are unusual in Sweden but frequent
in England and the US.
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