Biological explanation of schizophrenia NT

Question 1

A neurotransmitter is

Answer 1

A chemical which carries messages between nerve cells

Question 2

Which is the main neurotransmitter linked to Schizophrenia?

Answer 2

Dopamine

Question 3

The orignal hypothesis said the levels of Dopamine in the synpase are…

Answer 3

Too high/too much activity at the receptor sites (hyper dopaminergia)

Question 4

Why does the neurotransmitter level cause problems for people with Schizophrenia

Answer 4

There is too much action in the synapse/too many signals/too much activity

Question 5

Which receptor is usually the one linked to Schizophrenia

Answer 5

D2

Question 6

What is happening in the mesolimbic system?

Answer 6

Too much Dopamine (hyperdopaminergia), causes positive symptoms

Question 7

What is happening in the mesocortical system?

Answer 7

Too little Dopamine (hypodopaminergia), causes negative symptoms

Question 8

What else is tied to Schizophrenia as it controls Dopamine levels

Answer 8

Glutamate

Question 9

What is the effect of this neurotransmitter on Dopamine?

Answer 9

Lower levels (hypoglutamatergia) lead to an increase in Dopamine

Question 10

An increase in which other Neurotransmitter has been linked to both positive and negative symptoms

Answer 10

Serotonin

Question 11

What did Carlsson find?

Answer 11

dopamine, glutamate and serotonin are all implicated in the development of schizophrenia showing that neurotransmitters can explain the development of Schizophrenia (but it isn’t just Dopamine)

Question 12

What did the Liverpool universty study find?

Answer 12

found that childhood trauma makes you three times more likely to develop schizophrenia, suggesting that there is a strong relationship between the environment and the development of schizophrenia and it is not just due to neurotransmitters.

Question 13

What did the Lindstroem study find?

Answer 13

found that schizophrenics used L-DOPA faster than the control group, suggesting they were producing more dopamine at a quicker rate, and the excess dopamine can explain how schizophrenia is caused

Question 14

What did the Depatie & Lal study find?

Answer 14

found that giving people drugs that increase their production of dopamine does not create the symptoms of schizophrenia as would be expected if excess dopamine caused it, so it is not the only explanation of the causes of schizophrenia.

Question 15

What did the Seeman study find?

Answer 15

they have a higher number of D2 receptors

Question 16

Why is this a useful theory?

Answer 16

It has lead to drug treatments which work to lower symptoms- suggesting that this theory is credible

Question 17

What is a problem in suggesting the drugs ‘prove’ this theory correct?

Answer 17

The drugs don’t work for everyone and don’t act instantaneously

Question 18

Which of these is true and suggests the dopamine theory is valid/credible?

Answer 18

Amphetamines raise Dopamine levels and causes similar ‘symptoms’ to Schizophrenia

Question 19

What is an issue with using Amphetamines as evidence?

Answer 19

They only cause the positive symptoms so don’t provide a complete explanation

Question 20

What is a strength of using a biological explanation to describe Schizophrenia?

Answer 20

Empirical- you can measure neurotransmitters directly

Question 21

A weakness of saying neurotransmitters cause schizophrenia is?

Answer 21

It has issues with cause and effect as most of the research is correlational

Question 22

Why might genetics be a better explanation?

Answer 22

Genetics provide an underlying cause to explain why the neurotransmitters are different- giving better cause and effect

Question 23

Why is this theory reductionist?

Answer 23

It ignores environmental factors like early childhood expereicnes influencing cognitive processes