PSYCHOEDUCATION AND EXPRESSED EMOTION IN BIPOLAR DISORDER - PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

A multifamily psychoeducational intervention was carried out in patien ts with bipolar disorder. The study explored (1) the effects of the in tervention on the level of expressed emotion (EE) of key relatives; (2 ) the validity of EE defined by a 5-min speech sample as a predictor o f relapse; and (3) the evaluations of the intervention program by pati ents and key relatives. Four key relatives in the treatment group, com pared with none in a waiting list control group, changed from high to low EE levels. The change was clinically but not statistically signifi cant, perhaps because of the small sample size. Patients whose key rel atives had low EE levels had a significantly lower number of relapses and hospital admissions compared with those whose key relatives had hi gh EE levels. The psychoeducational program was well received by all p articipants, and there were no dropouts.