family dysfunction explanation of Sz

Question 1

weaknesses of family dysfunction explanations.
social sensitivity

Answer 1

parents may be made to feel responsible for their child developing sz which can lead to blaming and stigmatisation. outdated views about the subject can be seen as destructive for people and may have damaging effects. mothers are also more commonly blamed which highlights the gender bias involved. this highlights the ethical issues this explanation involves.

Question 2

weakness of family dysfunction explanation
validity

Answer 2

retrospective accounts of childhood are very hard to accurately recall for people to be able to establish them as the cause of the disorder and even if this is able to be done there’s a lack of cause and effect. The child’s behaviour is possibly a cause of family dysfunction. Mischler and Waxler found significant differences in the way mothers spoke to SZ daughters compared to normal daughters suggesting that the dysfunctional communication may be a result of the SZ not a cause.

Question 3

strength of family dysfunction explanation
practical applications

Answer 3

lead to the development of family therapies which help healthy family dynamics reducing relapse rates. it improves the quality of communication and interaction between family members benefiting not only the SZ patient but all other family members. also reduces the stress of caring for someone with SZ. However, lengthy process so high drop out rates.

Question 4

strength of family dysfunction explanation
research support Tiernari et al.

Answer 4

Tiernari et al. found biological children of schizophrenic mothers adopted into psychologically healthy families only 5.8% developed SZ however those adopted into dysfunctional families 36.8% did. showing evidence for the large impact the family has on the development of SZ. its also been praised for its predictive validity as there’s high relapse rates in expressed emotion families.