Parental affective style and the treatment of schizophrenia. Predicting course of illness and social functioning.

In a randomized controlled study, the affective style (AS) of parents of schizophrenics in clinic-based individual treatment groups and home-based family treatment groups was compared prior to treatment and again three months after treatment had begun. Affective style is an index reflecting the quality of the family emotional climate, measured from face-to-face discussion. Pretherapy and posttherapy measures of negative AS were significantly predictive of relapse within the nine-month treatment period for patients in individual treatment. In addition, for both treatment groups, a negative AS pattern at the posttherapy reassessment was significantly associated with decreased patient social functioning, reduced ability of the family to absorb the family intervention, and lower capacity of the family to cope with everyday family stresses. The results suggest that AS is an important intrafamilial attribute, with implications for treatment strategy and planning.