Relationship between Caregiver Burden and Expressed Emotion in Families of Schizophrenic Patients.

Background: Schizophrenia is a clinical syndrome that is variable, but highly disturbing; its psychopathology involves cognition, emotion, perception, and other aspects of behaviour. Schizophrenic patients who are hospitalised, who return to a family environment characterised by high levels of criticism, excessive emotional involvement, or hostility (referred to as high expressed emotion) are more likely to experience the recurrence than schizophrenic patients returning to families characterised by low expressed emotion.

Aim: We aimed to investigate the level of care load in the families of schizophrenic patients.