Mental disease is faced during the past years as a result of various factors, such as the participation of the family which sometimes has a negative aspect in the course of the disease.

Through the study of 15 families of the patients who live in the Residential Unit of Aspropirgos, we present the role of the family environment in the appearance and process of the disease.

We observed the background of 15 patients of the Residential Unit. When they completed a month living in Aspropirgos, we completed their Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP). At the same time, we accepted the patients’ families in four weekly sessions whose goal was to explore and cope effectively with the problems that led those patients to mental disease. Patients completed the same questionnaire in their 4th and 12th month of their stay in Aspropirgos while we continued to have monthly sessions with their families.

Patients presented a decrease of their functionality in their 4th month in the Residential Unit (around 30%), which was accompanied by the resistance of their families in the suggestions of the therapeutic group. When 4 months were completed we put more strict limits regarding the relationships of the patients with their families, we even forbidded their contact with members who provoked the most severe dysfunction in the patient. At the end of 12 months we concluded that there was an improvement of up to 50-60% compared to patients’ situation in the 4th month.