Effectiveness of Psychoeducation on Expressed Emotion of Family Members and as Perceived by the Patient with Schizophrenia

Mental illness has an impact on various aspects of living. Expressed emotion is the negative behavior shown by the family member toward the patient.1 Expressed emotion is concurrent with mental illness and found to have a negative impact on the health of a psychiatric patient as well as whole family. It is the bad prognostic factor for patients with schizophrenia. The components of expressed emotion include hostility, critical comments, and emotional over-involvement. The quantification of critical comments and hostility is greatly reliant on the way in which the respondent uses their tone of voice to convey their feelings while the judgment of over-involvement also takes into account on the basis of reported behavior. Family environment plays a crucial role in influencing the onset, as well as course of mental illness particularly that of schizophrenia and other related psychotic disorders.2 Researchers found that relapse rate in high expressed emotion group is much higher than low expressed emotion. Sharif et al. conducted a study and the result showed positive effects in reduction of family burden and patients symptoms immediately 1 month after the intervention.3 Research has shown that adequate psychoeducation program about the mental illness and importance of family support can be taught to family members and patients to increase their knowledge and decreased expressed emotion. It will help the patient in reducing the chances of relapse and rehabilitation cycle and to live an independent life.4–6 Therefore, it is necessary to assess the prevalence of expressed emotion in the families of mentally ill patients and to teach patients 1VKNRL Nursing School, Numaligarh, Golaghat, Assam, India 2Department of Psychiatric Nursing, LGBRIMH, Tezpur, Assam, India Corresponding Author: Arunjyoti Baruah, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, LGBRIMH, Tezpur, Assam, India, Phone: 9854082201, e-mail: arunjyotibaruah@yahoo.co.in How to cite this article: Begam B, Baruah A. Effectiveness of Psychoeducation on Expressed Emotion of Family Members and as Perceived by the Patient with Schizophrenia. East J Psychiatry 2020;23(1):21–26. Source of support: Nil Conflict of interest: None Effectiveness of Psychoeducation on Expressed Emotion of Family Members and as Perceived by the Patient with Schizophrenia Boby Begam1, Arunjyoti Baruah2