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Background: Mental disorders are an important public health issue that leaves an enormous burden on healthcare services in modern day societies. In India one in four patients attending primary care clinics has a mental disorder. The World Health Organization (WHO) states caregiver burden as the “the emotional, physical, financial demands and responsibilities of an individual's illness that are placed on the family members, friends or other individuals involved with the individual outside the health care system.” The intensity of caregiver burden in psychiatry is mainly influenced by the duration, frequency of hospitalizations and relapse of the illness. Aims: To asses and compare the care giver burden among various psychiatric conditions. Methods: The presumptive diagnosis of the patients was made as per the International Classification of Diseases Research and Diagnostic Criteria; tenth revision (ICD-10 RDC). Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS) was used to assess the burden in the care givers. The resultant data was statistically analyzed employing SPSS 16th version. Results: Severe burden is found in the younger age groups. Burden is more experienced in males than in females. Severe burden is seen in chronic conditions. Conclusion: Excessive burden in family domains like family routine, family leisure, family interaction is felt by family members of dementia patients followed by alcohol dependence syndrome, mania and schizophrenia.