emotion of relatives of schizophrenic patients The assessment of psychophysiological reactivity to the expressed

Summary1. There was a significant difference in NS-SCRs betweenpatients in the presence of a high-EE relative comparedwith in the presence of a low-EE relative. Thesedifferenceswerenot evidentduringthe relative-absentperiod and can be explainedby a significantdecreasein NS-SCRfromtherelative-absentperiodon theentryof a low-EErelative.This decreasewasnot evidentifthe relativewas high-EE.2. Patients with a high-EE relativeshowedsignificantlyhigherlevelsof SCLduringboththerelative-absentand-presentphases.3. There wereno psychophysiologicaldifferenceswithinthe high-EEgroup.4. Three of the fiveself-ratingscalesshowedacceptabletest—retestreliability.Patients with a high-EErelativereported themselvessignificantlymore tense during boththe relative-absentand -presentphases. Patients witha low-EErelativereportedsignificantdecreasesin theirself-ratingsof anxietyand tensionafter theentryof therelative. Decreases in ratings of anxiety were also reported by patients with high-EE relatives. Correlations