COVERT CRITICISM - A NEW CRITERION FOR AS SESSING THE EXPRESSED EMOTION INDEX FOR SPOUSES OF DEPRESSED-PATIENTS FROM THE 5-MINUTE SPEECH SAMPLE

The expressed emotion (EE) index is a measure of affective attitudes h eld by relatives toward a mentally ill family member. In several studi es it has been shown to be a predictor of relapse in the course of sch izophrenia and depression. Since the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI) as the traditional method for assessing EE is time-consuming, a brief method - the Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) - has been developed as an alternative for research and clinical work. The FMSS is also suita ble for repeated application. Reliability and concurrent validity of t he FMSS-EE have been demonstrated in cross-cultural samples of familie s with a schizophrenic member. However, application of the FMSS coding system to relatives of depressed patients in our sample proved to be problematic. Criticism, the most important EE-component, could not be assessed using the existing rating procedure. Therefore a modified ver sion of the rating system has been developed. A new category named ''c overt criticism'' has been defined which also includes indirect critic ism. In an ongoing study a high degree of interrater reliability was a chieved with the new system. Available data concerning concurrent vali dity indicate that clinically meaningful results can be derived by usi ng the EE-ratings based on ''covert criticism''.