This study emerged from the reflection of my nursing professional experiences. The objectives were to understand the life meaning of critical patients' relatives, in view of the Tragic Triad: guilt, suffering, and death; to identify the contents of these individuals' life meanings, based on Existential Analysis. The methodological trajectory implied the qualitative approach and content analysis. The understanding of the meanings was guided by the Triadic Configuration, from which the following categories emerged: existential emptiness, suffering, guilt, death, meaning of life and ICU care. For the critical patients' relatives, finding the meaning of life in view of the Tragic Triad means perceiving the tragic optimism, such as the possibility of answering life questions in a positive and responsible way, by means of spiritual forces, as of their inner God, though the purpose of creating or performing something, or through the love dedicated to their sick loved one.
Nursing; Intensive Care Units; Family relations; Professional-family relations; Existentialism