Interactionalist Explanation for Schizophrenia Flashcards
What does the interactionalist approach suggest?
The development of Schizophrenia is due to combined effects and interaction of biology and psychological factors.
Diathesis stress model
Psychological concept that a disorder is due to the interaction between a predisposed vulnerability (Diathesis) and an environmental trigger in life (Trigger)
Diathesis in Schizophrenia
Considered to be a genetic vulnerability, potentially resulting in a dopamine imbalance
Stressors in Schizophrenia
Negative environmental experiences such as family dysfunction, emotional stress/anxiety or a major negative life event. This emotional event then triggers the disorder
Interactionalist approach (1st study)
Research by Gottesman (1991) who reviewed cases of Schizophrenia and found a concordance rate of 48% for identical twins (MZ twins) and 17% for non identical twins (DZ twins). This compares to the general population rate of 1%. This suggests a role for both biological genetic factors as the concordance rate is much higher for identical twins who share 100% DNA. but as the concordance rates is far less than 100% for MZ twins this suggests there must be some psychological experience triggered in one twin but not the other.
Interactionalist approach (2nd study)
Tienari (2004) Studied the biological children of schizophrenic mothers who had been adopted. It was found that 5.8% of children adopted into psychologically healthy families developed schizophrenia compared to 36.8% to children raised in dysfunctional families. This research supports the influence of biological factors, due to high rate even in psychologically healthy families, but the even higher figure for dysfunctional families suggest a psychological trigger is needed.
The effective treatment of Schizophrenia would…
Combine psychological aspects such as CBT and biological drug therapies to address both cause.
Patients with severe schizophrenic symptoms, biological treatments can allow the patient to reduce their symptoms so they can engage with psychological therapies.
CBT can then give sufferers the cognitive skills needed to change their underlying faulty cognitions
Treatment Research supporting (AO3+)
Supporting research has been conducted by Tarrier (1998). Patients were randomly placed in routine care (anti-psychotics) or routine care and CBT. Patients in the combined treatment had a significant improvement in the severity and number of positive symptoms as well as fewer days in hospital receiving care. This suggest an interactionalist approach to treating schizophrenia is more effective than the usual treatment plan of giving anti-psychotics alone. Giving support to the overall interactionalist theory.
1) General evaluations (AO3+)
The diathesis is no longer though of as just a single gene, researchers understand it is polygenic and include vulnerabilities such as early emotional trauma like child abuse, acting as diathesis by altering neurological development (Read 2001). Also the understanding of risk triggers has developed to include factors such as drug abuse
2) General evaluations (AO3+)
We could consider this explanation to be a holistic explanation of human behaviour, and as it takes into consideration a complex range of casual factors, it may be more valid explanation of schizophrenia than reducing the cause of schizophrenia to just certain biological or psychological factors
3) General evaluations (AO3+)
The interactionalist approach also takes into consideration the nature, nurture debate, carefully considering the relative importance of both hereditary and environmental influences
4) General evaluations (AO3-)
The fundamental mechanism by which a negative psychological event actually triggers a complex biological response resulting in symptoms is still uncertain reducing confidence in the interactionalist approach as a full explanation for
