BMJ 1994;309:353-4 (6 August)

Editorials

Psychosocial factors and relapse of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia follows a relapsing course for life in most sufferers. In one study almost 80% of patients relapsed repeatedly, and at five years half showed persistent handicap.1 Relapse takes a toll on patients and their families and imposes a financial burden on hospital and community services.2

Some patients relapse while taking maintenance medication,3,4 and this stimulated a search for other contributory factors which has now led to an emerging consensus.*RF 5-10* What are the psychosocial factors, how do they operate, and what interventions are effective?

The chance of relapse in patients with schizophrenia living at home depends heavily on the emotional environment provided by the family.11 The concept of expressed emotion has evolved as an index of the quality of this environment.*RF 11-13* Expressed emotion covers many of the emotional responses by a key relative, usually the spouse or parent, towards the patient. The key relative's level of expressed emotion . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Levine, S. Z., Rabinowitz, J. (2008). Trajectories and Antecedents of Treatment Response Over Time in Early-Episode Psychosis. Schizophr Bull 0: sbn120v1-sbn120 [Abstract] [Full text]  
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ