L10 Interactionist Approach to SZ

Question 1

What is the Interactionist Approach to SZ?

Answer 1

• An approach that acknowledges that there are biological, psychological and societal factors in the development of SZ
• Biological factors can include genetic vulnerability, neurochemical and neurological abnormality
• Psychological factors include stress from real life events, daily hassles and poor quality interactions in the family

Question 2

What is the Diathesis Stress Model?

Answer 2

• Diathesis means vulnerability, e.g the genetic component of developing SZ
• Stress is considered a negative psychological experience
• The model states that both a vulnerability to SZ and a stress trigger are necessary to develop the condition
• One or more factors can make a person vulnerable to SZ, but the onset of the condition is triggered by stress

Question 3

What is the modern understanding of the diathesis stress model?

Answer 3

• Modern understanding goes against the traditional idea of psychological trauma being the stressor, but now it is considered anything that risks causing SZ
• E.g Smoking Cannabis increases the likelihood of SZ by 7 times due to interference with the dopamine system in the brain
• Though people rarely develop SZ due to smoking cannabis, it shows there are other stressors, not just psychological trauma related events

Question 4

How does the Interactionist Approach propose we treat SZ?

Answer 4

• Due to the acknowledgement of both biological and psychological factors in developing SZ, it is compatible with both biological and psychological treatments
• Model is associated with the combination of antipsychotic medication and psychological therapies such as CBT
• In Britain it is increasingly standard practice to treat patients with a combination of drugs and CBT

Question 5

Strengths of the Interactionist Approach? (2)

Answer 5

Finnish adoptees
315 patients

Question 6

Finnish adoptees (+)

Answer 6

• Tienari found evidence for the interactionist approach
• Found Finnish adoptees who had genetic predisposition only suffered SZ when their adoptee families were dysfunctional
• Shows the interaction of biological and psychological factors in triggering onset of SZ

Question 7

315 patients (+)

Answer 7

• Randomly allocated 315 patients to one of three groups; medication and CBT group, medication and supportive counselling group, a control group
• Patients in the two combination groups showed lower symptom levels than the control group
• There was no difference in hospital readmissions, but study shows the superior treatment of the interactionist approach

Question 8

Weaknesses of the Interactionist Approach? (2)

Answer 8

More Expensive
Using multiple treatments is not always good

Question 9

Using multiple treatments is not always good (-)

Answer 9

• Using both biological and psychological treatments may cause issues and problems
• E.g if CBT is combined with anti-psychotic drugs then the side effects of the drugs can interfere with the CBT treatment
• This would be counter productive and makes the treatment useless for the patient

Question 10

More Expensive (-)

Answer 10

• Practical application of the interactionist approach is more expensive than traditional approaches of SZ
• Giving all patients both CBT and Bio therapies would be extremely expensive for the NHS and may put strain on the economy