[Research with families of people with mental disorder]

The purpose of this paper is to present a critical reflection on the knowledge produced on the topics: the impact of the mental illness in the family, the impact of the family environment in the evolution of the eating and the experience family with the mental illness. The measures of overload and express emotion are useful to guide public politics and the practice professional, however in they do not give a multidimensional picture to them of the experience of the care. Research on the familiar experience contribute to the understanding of the present suffering in this experience and of the forms of confrontation adopted by the families, also contributing to perceive the differences of the cultural contexts in the confrontation of the families.