Biological explanation of schizophrenia and evaluation Flashcards
What does the biological explanation link together?
The biological explanation often links genetic inheritance to high dopamine levels in the brain.
Research into DNA from families effected by schizophrenia found what?
It found that those with schizophrenia were more likely to have a defective version of a gene, called PPP3CC
Those with the defective PPP3CC gene suffer from what?
Those with the defective PPP3CC gene suffer from excessive amounts of dopamine.
What is dopamine and what does it do?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. It is one of the chemicals in the brain which causes neurons to fire.
What does the biological explanation argue that schizophrenics suffer from?
It argues that schizophrenics suffer from an excessive amount of dopamine which causes the neurons that use dopamine to fire too often and transmit too many messages.
What does the transmission of too many messages result in?
The many symptoms of schizophrenia including auditory hallucinations and disorganised speech and thoughts.
It is also argued that it is not excessive dopamine but…?
that fact that there are more dopamine receptors. More receptors lead to more firing and an over production of messages.
Evaluate in terms of supporting evidence (primate research)
Castner et al 1988 demonstrated that schizophrenia can be caused by biological abnormalities to the brain. They demonstrated this by causing the symptoms of schizophrenia in rhesus monkeys by exposing prenatal monkeys to radiation.
Evaluate in terms of applications to real life.
The biological explanation has developed practical ways of controlling schizophrenia particularly through drug therapy. Eg, by demonstrating that schizophrenia is cause by excessive dopamine levels, anti psychotic drugs have been developed to reduce the amount of dopamine available or reduce the amount of dopamine receptor sites by blocking them.
Evaluate in terms of refuting evidence? (twin study)
The twin study, Gottesman and Shields 1966, found that although genes do appear to play a role in schizophrenia because the concordance rate was higher in MZ twins than DZ twins, environmental factors must also be important as the concordance rate for MZ twins was only 42%.
Evaluate in terms of Reductionism
A weakness of the biological explanation is that it ignores environmental factors which may also be involved in the development of schizophrenia. It is argued that this reductionist explanation could be improved by taking into account environmental stressors which contribute to the development of schizophrenia.
What could be taken into account to reduce reductionism?
The diathesis stress model as it explains schizophrenia as an interaction between a biological predisposition to the disorder and environmental stress. This may explain why schizophrenia often develops in the late teens and early twenties, a stressful period when lots of changes are made e.g. going to university, moving away from home, forging careers and relationships.
