Predictors of Expressed Emotion, Caregiver's Burden, and Quality of Life in Chronic Mental Illness

Expressed Emotion

Expressed emotion is a reliable psychosocial predictor of relapse in the patients with various psychiatric disorders. It is described as the extent to which one expresses critical, hostile, and over-involved attitudes about the patient. Positive aspects of the expressed emotion may also be measured in the form of positive remarks, and warmth. However, it is the dimensions of criticism, hostility and emotional over involvement that is used to determine high and low levels of expressed emotion across cultures. Brown, Morick, Carstairs, & Wing (1962) attempted to look into the dimensions of expressed emotion:

• 1.

  Critical comments,

• 2.

  Hostility,

• 3.

  Emotional over involvement,

• 4.

  Emotional warmth, and

• 5.

  Positive remarks.

These dimensions are overlapping in nature. The above factors have been explained as follows: Critical Comments refers to the fault finding attitude in a particular relative towards the patient that is reflected consistently while talking about the patient. Hostility is defined as the generalization of the criticism i.e., criticizing the person on the account of his illness and blaming him for the disorder or rejection of the patient as a person or a combination of generalization and rejection. Emotional over Involvement (EOI) involves exaggerated emotional responses, usually self- sacrificing and devoted behavior, over protection that is inappropriate considering the patient’s age and inability to maintain a boundary between the subject’s existence and the patient’s. Warmth refers not to the general quality in the respondent’s personality, but to an emotion expressed specifically about the patient. Positive Remark is a statement which expresses praise, approval or appreciation of the behavior or personality of the patient.