This is a study with qualitative approach focusing on the relatives' feelings related to the patient who is admitted in intensive care unity. Twenty-four relatives were interviewed in a public hospital in Aracaju, SE, Brazil between July and August, 2007. The information was collected through an interview and evaluated according to content analysis. The results showed the following feelings: anxiety; worry; anguish and sadness; powerless; pain and sorrow; lost; fear and panic; stress; trust and security; insecurity; faith and hope and unexplainable feelings. Anxiety was the most common one and was related to the strange environment, the diversified procedures, fear of what will happen tomorrow and expectations of their relatives to get better.