Expressed emotion

Expressed emotion (EE), is a measure of the family environment that is based on how the relatives of a psychiatric patient spontaneously talk about the patient. It is a psychological term specifically applied to psychiatric patients, and differs greatly from the daily use of the phrase 'emotion expression' or another psychological concept 'family expressiveness'; frequent communication and natural expression of emotion among family members is a conducive, healthy habit. Expressed emotion (EE), is a measure of the family environment that is based on how the relatives of a psychiatric patient spontaneously talk about the patient. It is a psychological term specifically applied to psychiatric patients, and differs greatly from the daily use of the phrase 'emotion expression' or another psychological concept 'family expressiveness'; frequent communication and natural expression of emotion among family members is a conducive, healthy habit. Theoretically, a high level of EE in the home can worsen the prognosis in patients with mental illness, such as schizophrenia and social anxiety disorder, or act as a potential risk factor for the development of psychiatric disease. Typically it is determined whether a person or family has high EE or low EE through a taped interview known as the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI). Answers to questions and non-verbal cues are used to determine if someone has high expressed emotion. There is another measurement that is taken from the view of the patient, which rates the patient's perception of how his family feels about him and the disorder. If the patient feels that the parents are too protective, or not caring, the patient may feel that his parents don't care about his independence or trust his judgement. This attitude may cause the patient to relapse, and patients that rate their parents poorly in this test have a harder time coping with their illness if too much time is spent with the parent. An alternative measures of expressed emotion is the Five Minutes Speech Sample (FMSS), where the relatives are asked to talk about the patient for five uninterrupted minutes. Although this measure requires more training, it becomes a quicker form of assessment than the CFI.