The association between family atmosphere and hospital career of schizophrenic patients

Abstract

The content analysis was made of special thirty minute discussions between each of 30 acute male schizophrenics and their parents to determine features of parental personality. All patients were discharged, but after 2 years 13 of them had been readmitted. Compared with those not readmitted their fathers expressed more outward-directed hostility and hostility projected on to others, and their mothers expressed more inward-directed hostility as well as guilt anxiety and shame anxiety. Both parents were emotionally more unstable during the course of the discussion. The emotional interaction between mothers and sons was of symmetrical type (whereas it was complementary between mothers and sons who had not been readmitted).