This article aims to interpret the expressed emotions in hospitalized patients diagnosed with mental illness and their families, during the internalization within a psychiatric clinic of Medellin. In this research was used a qualitative approach, the strategy was the intrinsic case study, the information generation techniques were the interview and surveys, the technique of data analysis was the content analysis with help of the software Atlas Ti V6. The sample of this research was some patients, their families and an institutional interdisciplinary team of professionals. The results reveal the importance of the affective, as expressions of welcome in the treatment. Besides, the difficulties that generate the relationship of aridity affective as expression of maltreatment, aversion and distancing, as forms contraries to the welcome and hospitality. © Revista Colombiana de Ciencias Sociales.