In collaboration with the family it is necessary to develop a plan for managing stress. This plan should comprise of commitment of all family members to work on the problems, inclusion of all past successful coping strategies and use of strategies that are flexible and reality-oriented. 
What families can do? Family members may: 
1) Provide emotional support and containment, 
2) Share responsibility for decision making regarding the treatment setting, options and meeting financial costs, 
3) Maintain stability that is the standard family functions, emotional nurturing, feeding, clothing, sheltering, educating, and socialising must continue, and 
4) Adapt to change and help the patient to cope with the illness. Staff providing the services to the patients with chronic illness should understand the psychological response to an illness and behave in an empathic, non-judgemental and caring manner. Medical staff should be sensitive to the needs of the patient and look into the situations where family fails to take adequate care of the patient. 
7.1 NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMME
Mental disorders are significant public health issue and pose a tremendous socioeconomic burden on community. Neuropsychiatric conditions have an aggregate point prevalence of about 10 per cent for adults. About 450 million people are estimated to be suffering from neuropsychiatric conditions worldwide. In 1990, mental and neurological disorders accounted for 10 per cent of the total lost due to all diseases and injuries. This increased to 12 per cent in the year 2000 and an analysis of trends indicates that the burden will further increase to 15 per cent by the year 2020. The resources available to tackle the huge burden of these disorders are insufficient, inequitably distributed, and inefficiently used, which leads to a treatment gap of more than 75 per cent in many countries with low and lower middle incomes.