Suicidal Attempt in a Schizophrenic Patient with a High Level of Expressed Emotion

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder known for distortions in perception and thinking consist of positive and negative symptoms for over six months. Expressed emotion (EE) is an attitude towards a patient with a mental disorder from the individuals surrounding him. EE was predicted as a key element in the relapsing of schizophrenia through criticism, emotional over-involvement, and/or intrusiveness. High-EE environment has always been a known risk factor for relapsing into schizophrenia comparing to low-EE environment. However, in our case, that risk has increased the level of suicidality, as few articles have linked EE as a risk factor to increase suicidality in other mental disorders. We present a case of a young male from eastern reigon of Saudi Arabia with a high level of expressed emotion from the family in the form of emotional over-involvement, better highlighting the importance of family therapy through psychoeducational interventions in managing a schizophrenic patient.