The aim of this study was to determine the effects of social rejection on the families of the patients. The subjects were chosen among the patients who were treated at the in-patient and out-patient psychiatry clinics of Bak ırköy state hospital for psychiatric and neurological diseases, the family members of 52 female and 64 male, total 116 patients (age 18 to 60) were interwieved. The control group consisted of 48 female and 61 male individuals (age 18-60) who did not have a psychiatric patient in the family. Data were collected using questionnaire-1 concerning the individual characteristics of the subjects, questionnaire-2 concerning the family problems of psychiatric patient (Psychiatric Patient's Family Problems Checklist), and Social Distance Scale dev . eloped and validated by Arkar. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS program; percentage, one way analysis of variance, "X 2 " and "t" tests were applied the results showed that individuals without a psychiatric illness in the family rejected the psychiatric patients socially more than those who had a patient in the family. The patients families were found to be negatively influenced by this social unacceptance, however they did not choose to conceal the illness.