3. psychological explanations Flashcards
FAMILY DYSFUNCTIONS
THE SCHIZOPHRENOGENIC MOTHER
Was proposed by Fromm-Reichmann as a psychodynamic explanation based on the accounts she heard from her patients about their childhoods. She noted that many of them spoke of a particular type of parent which she called the schizophrenic (schizophrenia causing) mother.
The schizophrenogenic mother is
what symptoms does it explain
cold, rejecting and controlling and tends to create a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy.
This leads to distrust that later develops into paranoid delusions and ultimately schizophrenia.
FAMILY DYSFUNCTIONS
DOUBLE BIND THEORY
Bateson agreed that family climate is important in the development of schizophrenia but emphasised the role of communication style within a family.
The developing child regularly finds themselves
what symptoms does it explain
trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing, but receive mixed messages about what that is, and feel unable to comment on the unfairness of the situation or seek clarification. When they often get it wrong, the child is punished by the withdrawal of love, leaving them with an understanding of the world as confusing and dangerous this is reflected in symptoms such as disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions.
FAMILY DYSFUNCTIONS
Bateson was clear that the double bind theory
was just a risk factor, as it was neither the main type of communication in the family of someone with schizophrenia, nor the only factor in developing it.
FAMILY DYSFUNCTIONS
EXPRESSED EMOTION
Is the
level of emotion, in particular negative emotion, expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their carers and family members
FAMILY DYSFUNCTIONS
Expressed emotion contains
3 parts - explain all
Verbal criticism of the person, often accompanied by violence.
Hostility towards the person, including anger and rejection.
Emotional overinvolvement in the life of the person, including needles self-sacrifice.
These high levels of expressed emotion directed towards the individual are a serious source of stress for them.
This is primarily an explanation for relapse in people with schizophrenia.
It has also been suggested that it may be a source of stress that can trigger the onset of schizophrenia in a person who is vulnerable (due to their genetic makeup).
FAMILY DYSFUNCTIONS
AO3: strength of family dysfunctions
RESEARCH SUPPORT - Read
There is evidence linking family dysfunctions to schizophrenia.
Indicators of family dysfunction include insecure attachment and exposure to childhood trauma, especially abuse. According to a review by Read et al. adults with schizophrenia are disproportionately likely to have insecure attachment, particularly type c or d. they also reported that 69% women 59% of men with schizophrenia have a history of physical and/or sexual abuse.
This strongly suggests that family dysfunction makes people more vulnerable to schizophrenia.
FAMILY DYSFUNCTIONS
AO3: limitation of family dysfunction
EXPLANATIONS LACK SUPPORT
There is poor evidence base for any of the explanations.
Although there is evidence supporting the idea that childhood family-based stress is associated with schizophrenia, there is almost none to support the importance of the schizophrenogenic mother and double bind. Both these theories are based on clinical observation of people with schizophrenia and informal assessment of their mother’s personalities, but no systematic evidence.
This means that family explanations have not been able to account for the link between childhood trauma and schizophrenia.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION
cognitive explanations focus on the role of
mental processes. Schizophrenia is associated with several types of dysfunctional thought processing which can provide possible explanations for schizophrenia.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION
DYSFUNCTIONAL THINKING
Reduced thought processing in the ventral striatum is associated with is associated with X, whilst reduced processing of information in the temporal and cingulate gyri are associated with Y
X = negative symptoms
Y = hallucinations.
This lower than usual level of information processing suggests that cognition is likely to be impaired.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION - META-REPRESENTATION DYSFUNCTION
· META-REPRESENTATION
Is the cognitive ability to
reflect on thought and behaviour. This allows us insight into our own intentions and goals, while also allowing us to interpret the actions of others.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION - META-REPRESENTATION DYSFUNCTION
Dysfunction in meta-representation would disrupt our ability to
recognise our own thoughts and actions as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else. This would explain hallucinations of hearing voices and delusions like thought insertion.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION - CENTRAL CONTROL DYSFUNCTION
Central control is
the ability to suppress automatic responses.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION - CENTRAL CONTROL DYSFUNCTION
if central control is dysfunctional or impaired, it means that
we are unable to think before we speak / act, displaying abnormal speech and behaviour.
speech poverty, disorganised thought and behaviour can be a result of CCD as we cannot suppress automatic thoughts and speech triggered by other thoughts.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION
AO3: strength of cognitive explanations
RESEARCH SUPPORT - Stirling (stroop test)
There is evidence for dysfunctional thought processing.
Stirling et al. compared performance on a range of cognitive tasks in 30 people with schizophrenia and a control group of 30 people without. Tasks included the Stroop test in which participants have to name the font colour of colour words, so they have to suppress the tendency to read the word aloud. A predicted in Frith’s theory, people with schizophrenia took twice as long to successfully complete the task.
This means that the cognitive process of people with schizophrenia is impaired.
COGNITIVE EXPLANATION
AO3: limitation of cognitive explanations
A PROXIMAL EXPLANATION
It can only explain the proximal origins of symptoms.
Cognitive explanations for schizophrenia are proximal explanations because they are explaining what is happening now o produce symptoms - distal explanations focus on what initially caused the condition, such as genetic and family dysfunctions explanation.
This is an issue because it means cognitive explanations cannot predict treatment and only produce partial explanations for schizophrenia.
