Expressed emotion and depression

Expressed emotion is a measure of the amount of criticism, hostility and emotional over-involvement that a relative expresses in reference to a psychiatric patient and has been shown to have negative effects on symptom fluctuations, treatment outcomes and relapse rates across many disorders. However, three recent studies have shown no linkage between expressed emotion and these variables. These studies asked about influential people in patients' lives not people they lived with so a study of 66 students suffering from depression in the U.S. compared those who experienced expressed emotion from people they lived with to those who experienced it from other, significant people in their lives. Only expressed emotion from family members or romantic partners who lived with participants predicted a change in depressive symptoms.

Renshaw, Keith D. - Perceived criticism only matters when it comes from those you live with Journal of Clinical Psychology December 2007, 1171-1179