Coping with Schizophrenia in Developing Countries: A Study of Expressed Emotions in the Relatives

The study of Expressed emotions (EE) ows its origin to the efforts of Brown and his colleagues in London during the last two decades to understand the family environment of schizophrenic patients. It has been shown in a series of studies that the expressed emotions of the key relatives, measured in an interview shortly after the patient’s admission to hospital is highly predictive of the patients’ subsequent course of schizophrenic illness. Brown, Birley and Wing (1972) found that EE rating scales are useful tools in quantifying emotional interaction in the family when a schizophrenic family member is admitted to hospital. In a replication study, Vaughn and Leff (1976) followed up the patients for nine months after discharge from the hospital. They found a significantly higher relapse rate in those patients returning to homes with high EE relatives as compared to those living with low EE relatives.