interactionist approach to schizophrenia Flashcards
what is the diathesis in the diathesis-stress model
nature
what are stressors in the diathesis-stress model
nurture
what were some historical views about diathesis
vulnerability/predisoposition was purely genetic and biological in nature. for example Meehl believed there to be a single ‘schizo’ grene, if a person did not have this gene then no amount of stress could trigger the diathesis.
what is meant by the term ‘diathesis’
refers to a predisposition or vulnerability to developing a mental disorder.
what is a modern view on diathesis
clear that there is no singular ‘schizo gene’, schizophrenia is polygenic and aetiologically hetereogeneous.
in addition vulnerability does not have to be genetic. Studies have shown that psychological trauma can act as a diathesis creating a vulnerability. For example adverse childhood experiences have been found to affect many aspects of brain development. eg the Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system can become overactive making a person more vulnerable to stress
what was a historic view of stress
stress was seen as psychological, in particular related to parenting eg. the schizophrenogenic mother.
or was related to a significant traumatic event which acts as a trigger.
what is a modern understanding of stress
modern definition of stress includes anything that risks triggering SZ.
for example smoking cannabis is now considered a stressor as it disrupts synaptic pruning in adolescent brains and interferes with the dopamine system.
stress can also include the daily hassles of life and life events for example death of a loved one, work, money ect.
what are some factors that increase risk of schizophrenia that are a result of both nature and nurture
epigenetics - environmental factors change the way genes are expressed.
faulty cognitive processing - brain regions
childhood trauma - affects the development of the brain
genetic mutation - paternal age increases likelihood of genetic mutation which increases chance of SZ
what does an interactionist approach mean
approach recognises that there are biological, psychological and social factors in the development of schizophrenia.
what does the diathesis. stress model suggest
both a vulnerability to SZ and a stress trigger is necessary to develop the disorder.
what is the treatment according to the interactionist model
model acknowledges both biological and psychological factors in SZ and therefore is compatible with both biological and psychological treatments. for example combining antipsychotic medication and psychological therapies eg. CBT
what is a strength of taking an interactionist approach when treating patients (AO3)
the treatment is hollistic, as it consideres all aspects and factors. that contribute to schizophrenia. For example antipsychotics helps address the chemical imbalence and improves positive and negative symptoms. This allows the patient to engage more effectively with the CBT which addresses the irrational thought processes.
In turn CBT targets thinking which may change neuronal pathways and alter the brain chemistry of patients. therefore CBT helps improve biological aspects as well.
CBT and antipsychotics compliment each other and can be paired with other therapies to provide a tailored treatment to the indivdual. For example a patient raised in a dysfunctional family environment may also recieve family therapy as well.
outline a study that demonstrates that interactionist approaches to treatments are effective (AO3)
Tarrier et al randomly allocated 315 pps to either group 1: Drugs + CBT or group 2: drugs + counselling or group 3: drugs only
pps in the two combination groups showed the most improvement in symptoms compared to the drug condition.
This shows that combining treatments is more effective than when used in isolation. supporting an interactionist model of SZ
what. is a limitation of tarrier et al’s study (ao3)
Tarrier et al found there was no difference in hospital readmission post treatment. therefore combination treatments still does not treat schizophrenia and cure the patient of their disorder.
what is the problem with taking a purely hollistic approach (ao3)
a hollistic approach recognises the influence of many different factors and explanations. Therefore it is hard to find and identify which is the most influential factor in the cause of schizophrenia.
however this does make sense as schizophrenia is so varied between individuals, everyones experience is different so to isolate one specific deterministic cause is very hard.
