Emotional attitudes and direct communication in the families of schizophrenics: a cross-national replication.
To examine how the measure of expressed emotion relates to family life, 30 relatives of schizophrenic patients were assessed for EE and then observed in ten-minute discussions with the patients. It was found that high-EE relatives express more negative emotional statements than low-EE relatives when face-to-face with the patient; they also talk more rapidly, and this speech rate is correlated with the patient speech rate. Whereas low-EE relatives expressed few criticisms or intrusive statements, high-EE over-involved relatives were more intrusive, and high-EE critical relatives were more critical as well as more intrusive in direct interaction. These findings emphasise the importance of understanding divergent EE sub-styles and the complementary behaviour of patients. The findings of an earlier Los Angeles study were replicated.
D001290:Attitude; D003142:Communication; D004644:Emotions; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D012008:Recurrence; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013060:Speech