[Psychiatric reform in Brazil: contextualization and thoughts about the care for the mentally ill in the family].

This work analyzes the consequences of the Brazilian psychiatric reform to the care provided to the mentally ill in their family environment. It is a descriptive and exploratory study based on a qualitative approach, using the historical-dialectic materialism as its theoretical and methodological framework. The subjects of the research were 11 women that provided care to mentally ill persons. The analysis of their discourses revealed unique aspects related to caring for the mentally ill in their family environment and the difficulties resulting from the process of institutionalization of the mentally ill. The conclusion is that women who provide care for the mentally ill have an important social role that is indispensable to the consolidation of the psychiatric reform in the country.