[Mental illness in the view of patients and their families].

With the aim of studying the comprehension of mental illness of patients and their families, we conducted a bibliographical study of articles in Brazilian periodicals, theses and dissertations in the period between 1993 and 2003. The identification of the sources was done through the automated search systems Latin American Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS) and the University of São Paulo's Bibliographic Data Bank On-line Global Catalog (DEDALUS). Nineteen papers were selected and four categories identified: family difficulty in the relationship with the patient; prejudice and stigma; organic/ biological explanation for the illness; and fear and pain of insanity.