TITLE:
Bipolar I disorder and expressed emotion of families: A cohort study in Japan
AUTHORS:
Shinji Shimodera, Yukiko Yonekura, Sosei Yamaguchi, Aoi Kawamura, Masafumi Mizuno, Shimpei Inoue, Toshi A. Furukawa, Yoshio Mino
KEYWORDS:
Expressed Emotion; Family; Bipolar Disorder
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.2 No.4,
October
31,
2012
ABSTRACT: The relationships between expressed emotion (EE) of the families and the course of bipolar disorder have been examined only in a limited number of cohort studies. No study has yet been reported from Asia. The subjects were 12 patients that had been diagnosed with bipolar I disorder according to DSM-IV and their 12 key family members. The families of the patients were interviewed using the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI) within 2 weeks of the admission of the patients, and their EE were evaluated. The patients were then followed up for 9 months after their discharge from the hospital. The patients were divided into a high-EE group and a low-EE group using the cut-off based on the number of critical comments (CC) and emotional overinvolvement (EOI), and the 9-month relapse risk was compared. When the subjects with 3 or more CC or an EOI score of 3 or more were regarded as the high-EE group, and the others as the low-EE group, the 9-month relapse risk was 100% (3/3) for the high EE group and 0% (0/9) for the low EE group. (Fisher’s exact test p = 0.005) EE based on the CFI appear to be correlated with relapse in bipolar I disorder in Japan.