Caregiver distress in first-episode psychosis: the role of subjective appraisal, over-involvement and symptomatology

Abstract

Caregiver distress is significant in the early phase of illness, and this seems to be more related to their subjective appraisal and over-involvement, than to variations in symptoms and global functioning of the person diagnosed with FEP. This lends further support to the stress-appraisal coping model and the cognitive model of caregiving in FEP, and highlights supportive interventions aimed at handling unhelpful cognitions and behaviors.

The Experience of Childhood Trauma and Its Influence on the Course of Illness in First-Episode Psychosis

“…While these parents clearly had demonstrated a failure to provide necessary care and support, participants seemed to have difficulties forming an integrated and nuanced perspective of parents as both possessing positive and negative qualities. Intuitively, this makes sense, as most persons in the early phases of psychosis are dependent on informal caregivers, who often constitute the only stable and reliable social network (Breier and Strauss 1984;Jansen et al, 2014a;MacDonald et al, 2005). In contrast to sealing over, some people seem better able to integrate adverse experiences within their personal narratives.…”

“…They were drawn from a larger study examining the prevalence of trauma in first-episode psychosis and the experience of informal caregiving (Jansen et al, 2014a;Trauelsen et al, 2015). Inclusion criteria for the qualitative study were, in addition to the above, as follows: (1) reports of 1 or more childhood traumas and (2) reports of a belief that this trauma had influenced the development of their psychotic episode or illness.…”

Important first encounter: Service user experience of pathways to care and early detection in first‐episode psychosis

“…Ten service users with a median age of 21 (range [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], five males and five females, were included in the study. None of the eligible participants approached for participation declined.…”

Expressed emotion (EE) in families of individuals at-risk of developing psychosis: A systematic review

“…Several studies have explored the needs, perceptions and mental health of carers supporting these individuals and found that high-EE is associated with high carer burden (Wang et al, 2017). Family members experiencing high burden were more likely to have higher levels of anxiety and depression and financial impairment (Barrowclough et al, 1996;Jansen et al, 2015). Levels of family burden (both subjective…”