| Abstract: | Reviews the book, Expressed emotion in families: Its significance for mental illness by Julian Leff and Christine Vaughn (1985). The authors, Leff & Vaughn, along with George Brown, the originator of the "expressed emotion" concept provide an opportunity to observe their minds at work. In presenting the origins and clinical, theoretical, and research developments focused on the initial observations that high levels of expressed emotions in the families of schizophrenic patients can be debilitating, the volume not only provides a wealth of significant information about schizophrenia and how research ideas are formulated, tested, refined, and retested but also provides significant insights into the thought processes--the intuitions, doubts, and confidences--of the researchers every step of the way. The book is a landmark study of the role of emotional attitudes and their expression by family members in the course and outcome of schizophrenia. From its British origins, the research has sparked heuristic cross-cultural replication and innovations. While the book should be essential reading for every family psychologist and psychotherapist, its main audience will probably be researchers interested in family processes and schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
