Effectiveness of Family Psycho-Educational Program on Expressed Emotion in Families of Patient With Sever Mental Disorder

The purpose of this study was to in-vestigate the effectiveness of psycho-educational intervention in reducing expressed emotions in families of pat-ients with sever mental disorders. Using an experimental design, with p-retest and posttest and control group, Families of 30 patients with bipolar disorder (BPD), schizophrenia and sc-hizo-affective disorder were divided in tow conditions: 6 sessions of in-tervention as a experimental group and one session as a control group.Expressed emotions were assessed by using Family Questionnaire.Results showed while that family psycho-education program had no significant effect on emotional over involvement, but it had significant influence on reduction of critical comments (CC) in family members. These results were interpreted in terms of the fact that according to the literature emotional over involvement is less sensitive in predicting relapse. However, family psycho-educational programs are basically designed to reduce relapse and as a result emotional over involvement has not important role in these programs. On the other hand, considering the cultural aspects of this factor, one may expect more time as well as deeper interventions for changing this factor.