A review of expressed emotion research in health care

Alison J. Wearden, Nicholas Tarrier, Christine Barrowclough, Thomas R. Zastowny, Alice Armstrong Rahill, Eilish Burke

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Much research has been carried out on the impact of family relationships on the development and course of different illnesses. Research on Expressed Emotion (EE) developed out of studies of the impact of family members on patients with schizophrenia, and has provided us with a robust measure of relatives' emotional attitudes towards patients, which has now been applied in the study of numerous psychiatric and medical illnesses. This review outlines the history of EE research in schizophrenia, and discusses the evidence for the association between family EE and the course of schizophrenic illness. Some of the factors which might moderate the association between EE and illness course are outlined and the issues of the meaning and development of EE are discussed in the light of recent theoretical advances. The application of the EE methodology in other psychiatric and medical conditions is then reviewed and conclusions are drawn about the extent to which EE predicts illness course in conditions other than schizophrenia. Consideration is given to the ways in which the application of the paradigm to a variety of illnesses or conditions with different features can enhance our understanding of the EE construct. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)633-666
    Number of pages33
    JournalClinical Psychology Review
    Volume20
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Aug 2000

    Keywords

    • Expressed Emotion
    • Medical conditions

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