Familial Expressed Emotion: Outcome and Course of Israeli Patients With Schizophrenia

We investigated the validity of expressed emotion (EE) in Israel. The study sample consisted of 108 patients with schizophrenia and 15 with schizoaffective disor-der, and their key relatives. EE was rated with the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS). Patient households were categorized by EE and its two components: criti-cism and emotional overinvolvement. Patients were rated with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) at admission, at discharge, and 6 months after dis-charge. Readmissions were determined over a 9-month period. High EE and particularly high criticism were significantly associated with poorer outcome (higher rate of and earlier readmissions, and higher BPRS score at followup) and worse illness course (higher annual number of prior psychiatric hospital admis-sions). Odds ratios between high EE and high criticism and readmission were 2.6 and 3.5, respectively. The strongest predictor of earlier readmission was the interaction of high criticism X poor compliance with medication. The results converge to further confirm the notion that familial EE is a valid crosscultural pre-dictor of the clinical course of schizophrenia. Moreover, EE has predictive power in very chronic samples. Criticism appears to be the crucial EE com-ponent linked with short-term outcome. Treatment aimed at reducing high criticism is warranted. The FMSS appears to have predictive validity