Caring for a Family Member with Chronic Mental Illness

The aim of the phenomenological study described in this article was to depict the lived world of caring for a family member with chronic mental illness. Through two individual in-depth interviews, 14 participants were asked to describe their experience of caring for a son, daughter, or parent affected by chronic mental illness. The main themes emerging from the study related to temporality, the need to "live each day as it comes" without being able to make long-term plans, and to relationality, the need to "look at the world through the other's window," always aware of how the world responds, not only to oneself but also to the person with mental illness.