title: Expressed emotion attitudes and individual psychopathology among the relatives of bipolar patients.
abstract: This study investigated the relationships between expressed emotion (EE) and individual psychopathology among 82 biological and non-biological relatives of 66 patients with bipolar I disorder. Relatives' psychopathology was assessed via the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, Patient Version (SCID-P) and the General Behavior Inventory (GBI), a self-report measure of lifetime subsyndromal mood disturbances. We hypothesized that relatives who held high-EE critical, hostile, and/or overinvolved attitudes toward their bipolar family member, as measured via the Camberwell Family Interview, would be more likely to have DSM-III-R Axis I diagnoses on the SCID, as well as more mood and temperamental disturbances on the GBI, than those who held low-EE attitudes. The findings did not support a significant relationship between overall EE status and psychopathology in family members. However, relatives without significant Axis I pathology scored significantly higher than those with Axis I pathology on one measure of EE, emotional overinvolvement. The findings are discussed with reference to explanations for the genesis of high-EE attitudes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Muenzinger Psychology Building, Campus Box 345, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0345, USA. tgoldst@psych.colorado.edu
authors.forename: Tina R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Miklowitz
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003120:Colorado / Q000453:epidemiology; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis