Reported family dynamics and psychopathology. II. The reactions of mental patients to a disturbed family in psychotherapy.

The reactions of hospitalized neuropsychiatric patients were compared after exposure to a film depicting a disturbed pattern of communication between a mother, father, schizophrenic son, and psychotherapist. As hypothesized, the following results occurred: (a) Adequately adjusted, relative to inadequately adjusted, patients made fewer errors when asked questions about the filmed interaction, and attributed more pathology to the family members in the film; (b) the more pathology (especially overprotection) patients attributed to their own parents, the less accurately they answered questions about the family members in the film, and the less pathological they rated the behavior of the family in the film. The results are consistent with theories that link adult psychopathology to repeated failures in interpersonal relationships which presumably originate in an exaggerated overattachment between children and their parents.