Family burden in chronic mental illness: a review of research studies.

Early research has established that burden exists and has identified certain behaviours of mentally ill relatives that family members find most distressing. Further research has confirmed the accuracy of the early work and has focused on the severity of mental illness. Recent research has stressed the importance of social support in the study of caregiver burden. This paper explores the research literature that covers the concept of caregiver burden in the area of mental illness and also presents developed instruments for the study of caregiver burden.