<p>Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that demands long-term care and treatment, often provided by family members, especially parents. The daily responsibilities of caregiving can be overwhelming but maintaining an optimistic outlook and having positive beliefs about the illness are associated with improved well-being. This cross-sectional study examined whether optimism is related to psychological adaptation through illness perceptions in mothers of patients with schizophrenia (<i>N</i> = 70). The research utilised the Life Orientation Test-Revised, the Illness Perception Questionnaire Schizophrenia-Relative Version, and the Psychological Adaptation Scale to investigate the hypothesis. Pearson product-moment correlation, and mediation analysis through PROCESS were employed for data analysis. Findings revealed that dispositional optimism was positively correlated with psychological adaptation (<i>r</i> = 0.56, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001) and with one of the dimensions of illness perception treatment control (<i>r</i> = 0.36, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01). Optimism was negatively associated with dimensions such as perceived negative consequences (<i>r</i> = -0.46, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001), emotional representation (<i>r</i> = -0.45, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001), and illness coherence (<i>r</i> = -0.42, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01). The mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between optimism and psychological adaptation was partially mediated by illness perception dimensions, specifically through perceptions of negative consequence and emotional representation. The findings emphasise the need to integrate family support into treatment plans for patients with schizophrenia to enhance both patient outcomes and caregiver well-being. Additionally, they suggest that mental health professionals should include strategies for boosting optimism and provide information on realistic illness perceptions in their interventions.</p>