Individuals Differences Explanations Of Sz Flashcards
Describe the psychodynamic explanation of sz.
Involves fixation, regression and losing touch with reality.
What is the fixation stage of the psychodynamic explanation?
During the oral stage of psychosexual development, the libido receives satisfaction from stimulation of lips/mouth. Mostly these are satisfied by feeding from the mother. If they receive too much/little, then they become fixated. Freud said sz patients become fixated in the oral stage.
What is the regression stage of the psychodynamic explanation?
In adulthood, most people satisfy oral desires by kissing/smoking but if as an adult, they experience excessive amounts of stress then they may need to regress back to the oral stage. This means the ego retreats to an earlier stage.
What is the losing touch with reality stage of the psychodynamic explanation?
Ego is not well developed in the oral stage. The role of the ego is to control the id’s impulses and to balance demands of the id with the moral limitations imposed by the superego. If a person regresses back to when the ego doesn’t exist, then the id can operate. Positive symptoms of sz represent unchecked activites of the id, eg delusions of grandiosity (demanding). Person loses touch with reality, they cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy.
Evaluate a strength of the psychodynamic explanation (supporting evidence).
Supporting evidence. Mednick did a study looking at children who grew up in dysfunctional families and whether they developed sz. They found 17 in the high-risk group were diagnosed with sz compared to 1 in the control group. However Mischler found that mothers became cold towards sz children after diagnosis rather than before. So the research is not consistent so the role of the mother in the onset of sz is unclear.
Evaluate a weakness of the psychodynamic explanation (incomplete).
It’s incomplete. The psychodynamic only explains the onset of positive symptoms. For example delusions are manifestations of the id’s desires, so if they lose touch with reality then they cannot distinguish reality and fantasy. However, it does not explain the onset of negative symptoms like alogia as it doesn’t link to the id’s desires. It doesn’t explain a person’s quality of speech decline. So it fails to give a complete explanation for the development of negative symptoms.
Evaluate a weakness of the psychodynamic explanation (unscientific).
Unscientific. It cannot provide any scientific evidence to back up hypotheses as they aren’t testable. So we cannot say for certain sz is caused by a dominent id due to lack of valid evidence.
Describe the cognitive explanation of positive symptoms of sz (pt.1).
This says that the onset of positive symptoms (PS) is due to a faulty attention system. People with sz have deficits/biases in the way they process info. There’s unusual attentional bias which leads to stimuli in the environment to be interpreted as dangerous when it may not be. Paranoid delusions may be caused by someone misinterpreting an event as threatening due to excessive processing needed. Mechanisms that filter incoming stimuli are defective so they attempt to process lots of irrelevant info (explain disorganised thinking).
Describe the cognitive explanation of positive symptoms of sz (pt.2).
The onset of symptoms can also be explained through a breakdown between memory and schema processes. People with sz can fail to activate their schemas which helps to identify important info. Internal thoughts are not recognised as arising from within and are thought to be external. If schemas can’t guide thought processes then leads to disorganised thinking.
Describe the cognitive explanation of negative symptoms of sz (pt.2).
Beck et al (2008),
