lesson 6 - psychological explanations of schizophrenia Flashcards
what is the psychological explanation of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is due to family experiences of conflict, communication problems, criticism and control
what is the double bind theory of communication
Bateson has proposed that disturbed patterns of communication and family dysfunction, might be a risk factor that can help cause the illness of schizophrenia. The double bind hypothesis means that children are given conflicting and mixed messages from parents and feel they cannot do the right thing. For instance parents might be caring some of the time and then critical at other times, or they might say positive comments in a cruel way, e.g. “I love you”.
This can create confusion, withdrawal and self doubt in children, and they cannot construct an internally coherent sense of reality. The child becomes trapped in situations whereby they fear doing the wrong thing and get mixed messages from parents. If they do something wrong parents might punish them by withdrawing their love.
Children see the world as confusing and dangerous. They might start to develop some schizophrenic symptoms such as withdrawal, disorganized thinking, paranoia and delusions.
A marital schism explains how family dysfunction can induce strange behaviour in their children. A marital schism is when parents may argue in front of their children and they might involve children into their argument. This can cause distress and confusion for children and they might then start developing some symptoms of schizophrenia.
what is a marital schism
A marital schism explains how family dysfunction can induce strange behaviour in their children. A marital schism is when parents may argue in front of their children and they might involve children into their argument. This can cause distress and confusion for children and they might then start developing some symptoms of schizophrenia.
examples of family dysfunction
perfectionism
abuses
lack of empathy
controlling
conditional love
strengths of double bind theory
3) Research conducted by Berger (1965) would support the double bind theory of schizophrenia. Berger found that schizophrenic patients reported a higher recall of double bind statements by their mothers, than did non schizophrenic people. (+)
5) Research evidence from the psychologist Read (2005) would support the double bind theory. He found that people who had difficult families in childhood had an increased risk of developing schizophrenia in adulthood. From studies of child abuse and schizophrenia it was found that 69% of females and 59% of adult male schizophrenia patients had a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood (+)
6) Support for family dysfunction comes from psychodynamic theorists who recognised a schizophrenogenic (schizophrenia-causing) mother who is typically cold, controlling and rejecting to her children which leads to excessive stress. This can be a main factor that helps develop schizophrenia
weaknesses of double bind theory
1) The double bind theory can be criticised because Bateson investigated his theory studying families retrospectively. This meant that families had to think back over a long period of time and identify traits of the double bind theory. Participants had to rely on their memories which could have been faulty and inaccurate. (-)
2) Bateson’s ideas can be criticised because he needs to investigate the element of cause and effect. Does family dysfunction cause schizophrenia to occur, or could it be that schizophrenia is caused by other factors which then cause the development of double bind? (-)
4) Ethical issues need to be taken into account when studying dysfunction in the family, and the research can be criticised for being unethical. It can cause a great deal of psychological harm if a family is told that their negative communication patterns have helped cause schizophrenia in a family member. Psychologists must also be aware of invading the family’s privacy, and they should also keep results confidential and anonymous (-)
what is another psychological explanation
Negative emotional interactions/climate in families might play a key role in helping to cause and maintain the symptoms of schizophrenia Expressed emotion can be regarded as a set of traits whereby family members talk about/to the schizophrenia patient in a critical and hostile manner. This might aid a relapse in a person who once had schizophrenia, but is now getting better.
Such traits include:
Criticism, hostility and emotional over involvement
behaviours you might see in a fam with high EE
shouting
no listening
sarcasm
arguing
* Families with high EE talk more than they listened, causing the schizophrenia patient to have a low tolerance for emotional stimuli such as intense emotional comments and interactions in the family. This causes stress.
* There is evidence that schizophrenics living in families with high expressed emotion are X4 more likely to relapse than those families with low expressed emotion.
* Hooley (1998) found evidence to suggest that high EE families can help predict the relapse of not just schizophrenia, but other mental disorders such as depression and eating disorders.
* EE seems to be more typical in developed countries rather than developing ones, (even though developed countries have more access to resources and treatments).
strengths of expressed emotion
1) Brown conducted research into expressed emotion and found results that agree and support that of Kavanagh, in terms of high EE causing schizophrenia/relapse. (+)
2) Support for expressed emotion was apparent in the 1990’s and became a well established maintenance model of schizophrenia. There was a large amount of evidence to suggest that EE can cause relapse in schizophrenia patients; this is true in many different cultures. This idea is so strong that families who show high EE are encouraged to undergo education and training to help reduce the amount of EE in the family. (+)
weaknesses of expressed emotion
3) Critics of the EE model would state that schizophrenic patients have minimal contact with their families, possibly because the patient is institutionalised and the amount of familial contact is controlled, or because the family withdraw themselves. Therefore critics have argued that there is a minimal chance of expressed emotion being a causal factor for schizophrenia. (-)
4) Cause and effect needs to be established and is a major criticism of the EE model. Could it be that high EE can cause schizophrenia, or could it be that that the schizophrenia itself can cause the family members to have high EE? (-)
5) EE can be criticised because it ignores biological factors that might cause schizophrenia. When examining schizophrenia, we must remember that the main causes of the illness tend to be biological e.g. genetics, dopamine There is a great deal of research support for biological causes of schizophrenia that cannot be ignored e.g. Ripke, Gottesman and Shields (-)
