Background:To offer elderly in special housing good quality care, it is necessary for caregivers to see the patient from a holistic perspective. To provide elderly with the best quality of care caregivers have to work in a safe, individualized and knowledge-based way. It is important for caregivers to have knowledge of how mental illness in the elderly can be experienced and highlight it.. Aim: The aim of the literature study is to shed light on the elderly's perceptions of their mental illness in long-term residential care. Method: A literature study with a qualitative study design was made based on 11 research articles. The databases used were PsycINFO and CinAhl. The 11 articles selected were reviewed through the quality review template from SBU (2014)Results: In the results six main categories were dentified with emerging sub-category. The categories were 1. Autonomy and independence with a sub-category of loss, 2. coping strategies, 3. self stigmatization, 4. Caregivers knowledge and experience of mental illness, 5. Social contact with a sub-category of family and their closed ones and 6.the implications of covid-19.Conclusion: The elderly does not always relate to the phenomenon of mental illness but, the elderly often describe that they have experienced depressive symptoms. The results also indicate that the elderly felt that the caregivers level of knowledge and experience of mental illness was low. More training in mental illness awareness would be of good relevance to all caregivers, including how to respond to the elderly who show that they suffer from mental illness.