Not only from my findings, it appears that mental illness disorganises the implementation of all family functions, with the depth and intensity of family dysfunctionality depending on the type of illness - they are more severe in psychotic disorders (e.g. schizophrenia), weaker in non-psychotic conditions (e.g. depression, neurosis).

From the perspective of the family and patients, the most depressing needs were disruptions in the emotional-expressive and caring-securing functions, as well as the material-economic and religious functions. The reorganisation of the family following mental illness is influenced by a great many facts:

• thelength of the hospital stay - short hospital stays increase the degree of immediate burden on the family. The patient returns home still exhibiting psychotic symptoms that interfere with family functioning; longer psychiatric hospital stays, reduce the subjective burden on the family, but cause other family members to take over the roles previously performed by the sick person,
• thefrequency of hospital admissions - one or two hospitalisations do not change the functioning of the family; a greater number of hospitalisations results in altered expectations and a loss of hope that the person will be able to function normally,
• the greater the severity of the patient's disorder, the more difficult the family's adjustment and the less acceptance of the patient .

The troubles in the daily life of a family with an existing mental illness limit the family's social circle, impoverishing its cultural and social life. The lack of shared leisure activities, the abandonment of organised leisure activities and the avoidance of social gatherings, isolates individual family members from each other and the family from the community. The problems associated with the illness reveal the potential to make the family generally capable of meeting the needs of its members and the expectations of non-family systems. In most cases, the family, despite its lack of previous experience (anticipatory socialisation is impossible), shows adaptability and flexibility in the use of its own resources. All too often, however, it relies on non-family institutions, this lack of support leading to the overload of many family functions. Existing hopes and plans are jeopardised by an uncertain future. Regardless of who is ill: the husband, the wife or, as in the case of this study, the now-adult child, the situation calls for major changes in the family's way of life.

photo ojoimages

The family adapts to a new situation in different ways and at different times. Like other psychosocial systems, it maintains a balance by resisting and adapting to the changes that naturally occur. In order to successfully adapt to the changes taking place, the family changes its internal organisation and functions. Trouble in the daily life of a family with an existing mental illness limits the family's social circle, impoverishes its cultural and social life. The lack of common ways of spending leisure time, the abandonment of organised leisure activities and the avoidance of social gatherings isolates individual family members from each other and the family from the community. Changes in family structure as perceived by respondents, ranked in order of importance, are as follows: mothers are forced to take on increased responsibility for running the home, social life has been curtailed, the family's financial situation has deteriorated, the need has arisen for parents to take on additional work or to continue working for longer periods of time, there have been increasing rifts between spouses (mainly due to the illness of an adult child), plans for the future of adult 'children' have changed.