1) The level of emotional involvement among family members including displays of inappropriate intrusiveness, distress, and self-sacrificing behaviors toward the afflicted family member.
2) The degree to which family members display critical attitudes and/or make hostile comments towards the mentally ill family member.
Research shows that individuals dealing with mental illness are more likely to relapse when they live in a family environment where EE is high.
Why is this the case?
Experts suggest that family members who are high in EE hold different beliefs about the patient and the problems associated with their illness in that they blame the person for their abnormal behavior. Those low in EE tend to perceive such behaviors to be out of the patient’s control and a consequence of the illness.
So What?
Scholars therefore recommend that families take a “flexible attributional stance” where the patient’s behavior is neither attributed completely to the illness, making all behavior out of their control, or the personality of the individual, implying that they could easily change their symptoms. Finding a healthy balance and ability to distinguish between the two can help families be less critical of their ill relative.
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