This study examines the deinstitutionalization of people with mental problems by using participant observation, intensive interviews, and case records. A relationship pattern, the accordion relation, was found between the expatients and selected family members. In the accordion relation, deinstitutionalized mentally ill persons and families alternated between being close and separating from one another because of needs, combinations of stress and support, anger, and a return when needs are not met elsewhere. Economic conditions and the nature of the family ties “play” the accordion and help to explain when the accordion relation is likely to be present. These findings suggest a revision of the concept of support.
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