Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:28:06.463Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Influence of Family and Social Factors on the Course of Psychiatric Illness

A Comparison of Schizophrenic and Depressed Neurotic Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Christine E. Vaughn  and
J. P. Leff
Christine E. Vaughn
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
J. P. Leff
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This study is a replication and extension of past work carried out by Brown, Birley and Wing (1972) concerning the influence of family life on the course of schizophrenia. In the original research the index of emotion expressed by a key relative about the patient at the time of key admission proved to be the best single predictor of symptomatic relapse in the nine months after discharge from hospital. In the present study this main finding of Brown et al has been replicated for two clinically different groups of psychiatric patients. The expressed emotion of the relative again seems to be associated with relapse independently of all other social and clinical factors investigated. In addition, important additive effects between various social influences and pharmacological treatments have been revealed which make it possible to predict relapse patterns in schizophrenia with considerable precision. The patterns of these relationships with relapse are different for the two clinical groups studied, patients with schizophrenic psychosis and with depressive neurosis.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 129 , Issue 2 , August 1976 , pp. 125 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, G. W., Birley, J. L. T. & Wing, J. K. (1972) Influence of family life on the course of schizophrenic disorders: a replication. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 241–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. W. & Rutter, M. (1966) The measurement of family activities and relationships: a methodological study. Human Relations, 19, 241–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. & Brown, G. W. (1966) The reliability and validity of measures of family life and relationships in families containing a psychiatric patient. Social Psychiatry, 1, 38–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughn, C. E. & Leff, J. P. (1976) The measurement of expressed emotion in the families of psychiatric patients. Accepted for publication, British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Venables, P. H. (1960) The effect of auditory and visual stimulation on the potential response of schizophrenics. Brain, 83, 77–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Description and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms: An Introduction Manual for the PSE and Catego System. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.