The relationship between parental EE and patient psychopathology was assessed in a sample of 83 families. Patients with schizophrenia could be distinguished on level of premorbid functioning, but not on symptom severity when using EE-profile scores. Analyses with the subscales of the EE index showed that profile differences could be attributes to `emotional overinvolvement' instead of `criticism'. This finding suggests that current research promotes biased image formation with regard to the EE-concept and parent-patient relationship. It is recommended that the EE-concept be analyzed with regard to its constituent components.