Family relationships

How is schizophrenia impacted by family relationships?

Several familial traits have been associated with increased risk for schizophrenia. These include; familial high expressed emotion (hostility, emotional over-involvement, and critical comments); negative parental affective style (guilt induction, over-intrusiveness, and personal criticism); and communication deviance (lack of clarity in communication).

What is the evidence for family relationships?

Moderate quality evidence finds people with schizophrenia may have had poor relationships with parents during childhood, with increased family instability, high communication deviance, negative emotions, and poor self-concept.

Moderate to high quality evidence suggests increased familial expressed emotion is related to more relapses in patients.

March 2022

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Last updated at: 1:26 pm, 30th March 2022
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