Expressed emotion and the inpatient psychiatric facility--expressed emotion and the inpatient psychiatric facility with low functioning psychiatric patients

The age of deinstitutionalizing asylums and sanitariums brought about interest in the environment that newly discharged patients were entering into. Many of the schizophrenic patients were relapsing and returning to their caregivers for hospitalization. Psychiatry was involved in research that would illuminate what environmental factors had an impact on their deterioration. George W. Brown (as cited in Harris, 2000)) explored this phenomenon. His investigation exposed variables that ultimately lead to the concept of Expressed Emotion (EE). Much of the literature and research on EE revolves around the family environment; however there is some literature that identifies that EE may not only occur with family members. EE may also be attributed to staff and their interaction with patients. This paper presents two case studies that will help elucidate EE with staff, family and the environment. More research is needed to investigate this phenomenon as it relates to staff and inpatients and the refractory, treatment resistant effects it may play in psychiatric inpatient facilities.