Expressed emotion in families of chronic schizophrenics and its association with clinical measures

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Abstract
A controlled clinical study on the outcome of family intervention in chronic schizophrenics is being carried out in Athens. All subjects participating in the study reside with their families and attend a vocational rehabilitation unit. Those belonging to families characterized by high “Expressed Emotion” (EE) are randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control condition. The former receive family intervention combined with individual treatment, the latter individual treatment alone. 75 subjects have entered the study, and 121 relatives were interviewed with the Camberwell Family Interview. 40 patients (53.3%) were found to belong to high EE families. The present article presents the results of the baseline assessment. It was found that the EE status of the family was significantly associated with measures of psychopathology and social functioning (BPRS, GAS, DAS, number of residual symptoms). Further analyses revealed that these associations exist only when all key relatives express high EE. The implications of these findings are discussed.