FAMILY DYSFUNCTION EXPLANATIONS A01 Flashcards
What is family dysfunction?
the processes within a family that are dysfunctional/impaired.
- may be a risk factor for the development and the maintenance of schizophrenia.
Whats a schizophregenic mother?
schizophrenia causing - a mother who is cold, rejecting and controlling
what are double bind situations?
social interactions in which an individual is repeatedly exposed to conflicting instructions without having the opportunity to adequately respond to those instructions or to ignore them
what is expressed emotion
level of emotion (usuallly negative) expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their family members or carers
What are family dysfunction explanations
they suggest that unhealth or abnormal relationships and patterns of communication, cold parenting, and high levels of expressed emotion within families causes stress.
the stress then influences or causes schizophrenia in the family member.
what is the double bind theory?
the developing child regularly finds themselves trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing, but received mixed messages about what that is and feel unable to comment on the unfairness of the situation or seek clarification.
when they get thinks wrong - which happens often - the child is punished by withdrawal of love
leaves them with an understanding of the world as confusing and dangerous reflected in symptoms like disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions.
How does the schizophregenic mother increase the chances of the development of schziophrenia
the cold and controlling nature of the mother creates a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy and leads to distrust.
This later develops into paranoid delusions and ultimately schizophrenia.
It what manner is expressed emotion displayed
usually negative, hostile and critical:
- verbal criticism of the person
- hostility towards the person + anger and rejection
- emotional over-involvement in the life of the person + needless self sacrifice
What link does expressed emotion have to the development of schizophrenia
explains relapse in people with schizophrenia because the stress further exacerbates their already faulty coping mechanisms. They have severe hallucinations and delusions of persecutions & feel that everyone is out to get them.
may trigger the onset of a person who is already vulnerable to schizophrenia e.g. genetics - links to diathesis stress model
strength of family dysfunction explanations - read et al
there is eveidence supporting family dysfunction explanation
read et al - reviewed 46 studies of child abuse and schizophrenia,
69% of adult woman in patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia had a history of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or both in childhood/
59% in men
strongly suggests that family dysfunction increases vulnerability to schizophrenia.
Limitiation of family dysfunction - poor evidence supporting the explanations
poor evidence base supporting the family dysfucntion explanations for schizophrenia
there is evidence showing that poor childhood experience are linked to adult schizophrenia , but there is none to support the importance of the schizophregenic mother or the double bind theory. These theories are only based off clinical observations of patients + informal assessments of their mothers personality - none of the evidence is systematic
family explanations have not been able to account for the link between childhood trauma and schizophrenia
Limitation of family dysfunction - does not consider biological explanation
family dysfunction is a psychological explanation for schizophrenia
Psychological explanations do not consider the role of biology in the development of schizophrenia. E.g the involvement of candidate genes, schizophrenia is aetologically hetergenous (different gene combos lead to it) backed by Ripke who found that 108 different genetic variations are associated with schizophrenia.
they are only focusing on the psychological aspects of human experience and trying to explain the disorder through that.
Reductionist - schizophrenia is a complex disorder that involves various factors and focusing on one sole cause for it may make it difficult to develop fullproof treatment plans for patients - perhaps a more holistic approach should be used when approaching explanations for schizoprenia
Strength of family dysfunction - Kavanaugh
evidence supporting family dysfunction explanations
kavanaugh reviewed 26 expressed emotion studies
- relapse rates for people who returned home to high expressed emotion families was 48%
- relapse rate for people who returned to low expressed emotion families was 21%
supports the idea that expressed emotion increases the risk of relapse for people recovering from schizphrenia.
