Premium
Expressed emotion and Milan systemic intervention: a pilot study on families of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia
Author(s) -
Bertrando Paolo,
Cecchin Gianfranco,
Clerici Massimo,
Beltz Jutta,
Milesi Alessandra,
Cazzullo Carlo L.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6427.2006.00339.x
Subject(s) - expressed emotion , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , clinical psychology , homogeneous , psychology , medicine , psychotherapist , thermodynamics , physics
This article presents the results of a pilot study carried out on families of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (high‐frequency users of psychiatric services) using a standardized version of systemic family intervention based on the Milan Approach (‘Circular Interview’). We used expressed emotion (EE) to compare and assess two homogeneous samples of families, a treatment group (n = 10) and a control group (n = 8). We found that families participating in circular interviews showed a reduction in criticism, while 30% of their members with a diagnosis of schizophrenia relapsed. Families not receiving treatment showed no changes in EE levels, while 62.5% of their members with a diagnosis of schizophrenia relapsed. Although the difference in relapse rates is not statistically significant, these results justify further studies on the use of nondirective systemic intervention with families of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.