Expressed emotion, communication deviance and schizophrenia. An exploratory study of the relationship between two family variables and the course and outcome of a psychoeducational treatment programme.

The relationship between expressed emotion (EE) and communication deviance (CD), and outcome in a group of early-onset schizophrenics after 2 years of psychoeducational treatment was examined. Patients' parents were assessed on EE and CD before and after the 2-year period. Outcome was measured by Global Assessment Scale (GAS) and relapse rate. Results showed that the correlation between CD and outcome was higher than between EE and outcome. In most of the patients who improved their GAS score during the treatment programme, their parents changed from high to low EE. CD proved to be more resistant to psychosocial intervention than EE.