INTERACTION OF LIFE EVENTS AND RELATIVES EXPRESSED EMOTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND DEPRESSIVE NEUROSIS

A history of life events in the 3 mo. before onset of illness was taken in a group of schizophrenic and a group of depressed neurotic in-patients. The expressed emotion (EE) of the patients'' key relatives was measured. There was no difference between the schizophrenic and depressed patients in the rate of events in the 3 mo. period before onset or in the proportion of undesirable events. The 2 groups exhibited significantly different patterns of interaction between life events and relatives'' EE. Schizophrenic patients living with high EE relatives had a low rate of life events compared with those living with low EE relatives, whereas depressives living with high criticism relatives had a high rate of events compared with those living with low criticism relatives. Schizophrenic and depressive patients'' differential vulnerability to environmental stress was discussed.