Family dysfunction

Question 1

What does the psychodynamic approach claim?

Answer 1

Family dysfunction is the key factor in schizophrenia

Question 2

What is research evidence for family dysfunction?

Answer 2

Schizophrenogenic mother and double bind

Question 3

What is the schizophrenogenic mother>

Answer 3

The schizophrenogenic mother is cold, rejecting and uncaring, resulting in a tense and secretive family environment and creates distrust which leads to paranoid delusions

Question 4

What is the double bind?

Answer 4

The child receives mixed messages which are hard to interpret, such as i love you delivered in anger, so they see the world and confusing, dangerous and become untrustful. The confusion leads to disorganised thinking and confusion how to interpret signals leads to disorganised thought and distrustful news of what people say leads to paranoia

Question 5

What is supporting evidence for the double bind?

Answer 5

Bateson’s case study

Question 6

What is Bateson’s case study?

Answer 6

A recovering schizophrenia is visited by his mother and when he embraced her, she stiffened and she said ‘don’t you love him anymore’, so he blushed and she told him to not be so easily embarrassed and afraid of his feelings. Then she left and he assaulted an aide and was restrained

Question 7

What is Bateson’s case study?

Answer 7

A recovering schizophrenia is visited by his mother and when he embraced her, she stiffened and she said ‘don’t you love him anymore’, so he blushed and she told him to not be so easily embarrassed and afraid of his feelings. Then she left and he assaulted an aide and was restrained

Question 8

What is expressed emotion?

Answer 8

High expressed emotion is a stressor only for those who are already genetically vulnerable or already have schizophrenia

Question 9

What is the link between family dysfunction and schizophrenia?

Answer 9

Family dysfunction doesn’t cause schizophrenia alone

Question 10

What are the 3 key elements of expressed emotion?

Answer 10

Hostility, critical comments and emotional over-involvement

Question 11

What is an example of hostility?

Answer 11

‘You’re pushing me to breaking point’

Question 12

What is an example of critical comments?

Answer 12

‘Why dont you just snap out of it?’

Question 13

What is an example of emotional over involvement?

Answer 13

‘I’ll quit work to look after you’

Question 14

What is the effect of hostility and critical comments?

Answer 14

Fear, sadness and anxiety

Question 15

What is the effect of emotional over involvement?

Answer 15

It leads to guilt

Question 16

How do hostility, critical comments and emotional over involvement lead to schizophrenia?

Answer 16

They are stressful emotions and trigger schizophrenia in those who are vulnerable

Question 17

What is evidence for expressed emotion?

Answer 17

Survey by Kavanagh, Butzlaff and Hooley

Question 18

What were the finding of Kavanagh, Butzlaff and Hooley?

Answer 18

A person is 2x more likely to relapse in a high EE than low EE home

Question 19

Why is survey evidence strong?

Answer 19

Both studies are a meta-analysis

Question 20

What is an issue with studies finding an association between family dysfunction and relapse?

Answer 20

There are external factors, and it is non-experimental , and there may be an association between EE as schizophrenia as early signs of relapse cause expressed emotion to rise

Question 21

What is evidence from family therapy?

Answer 21

Family therapy trains families to reduce expressed emotion, and is successful in reducing relapse rates, suggesting EE was a causal factor in relapse/onset

Question 22

Why is family therapy evidence better than survey evidence?

Answer 22

It is experimental, so can infer cause and effect as relapse rates fall