Psychological + Cognitive explanations for SZ Flashcards
two main psychological explanations for SZ
- family dysfunction
- cognitive explanations
family dysfunction - explained 3 ways
- psychological explanation for SZ
- link SZ to childhood + adult experiences of living in a dysfunctional family:
- the schizophrenogenic mother
- double-bind theory
- expressed emotion
the schizophrenogenic mother
- a psychodynamic explanation for SZ
- a particular type of parent where the mother is cold, rejecting + controlling
= creating family climate of secrecy + tension - leads to child having lack of trust + later develop paranoid delusions, ultimately developing SZ
- the father is often passive + doesnt really get involved in child’s uobringing
double bind theory
- focuses on family communication style
- if child receives contradictory messages from parents, they feel trapped in situations + fear doing the wrong thing (receive mixed messages about what this is)
- so the child is unable to comment about the unfairness of the situation or seek clarification
- so when the child gets it wrong = get punished by withdrawal of love
= feeling confused + sees the world as a dangerous place
= paranoid delusions –> SZ
expressed emotion (EE)
the level of emotion, particularly negative emotion, expressed towards a patient by their carer
- high levels of EE creates serious source of stress for patient
= causing relapse
- also a trigger if the person has a genetic vulnerability
3 parts to EE:
- verbal criticism of patients + occasional violence
- hostility towards patient e.g. anger, rejection
- emotional over-involvement in patient’s life e.g. self sacrifice
ads of family dysfunction as a risk factor
- research support
- childhood abuse
- support double bind theory
disads of family dysfunction as a risk factor
- evidence not strong
- parent blaming
- high EE no relapse
research support - ads of family dysfunction
an adoption study by Tienari, found that those adopted children who had SZ biological parents were more likely to have SZ themselves than those w/ non SZ biological parents
= however, this difference only emerged when the adopted family was rated as dysfunctional
= the illness only manifested itself under the appropriate environmental conditions
= genetic vulnerability alone is not suffiicient, family dysfunction is a contributing factor
childhood abuse - ads of family dysfunction
Read et al, reviewed 46 studies of child abuse + SZ
= concluded that 69% of adult women in-patients diagnosed w/ SZ had a history of physical, sexual abuse or both in childhood
= for men = 59%
= shows family dysfunction is a contributing factor in developing SZ
supports double bind theory - ads of family dysfunction
evidence to support the double bind theory + SZ
- SZnics reported a higher recall of double bind statements by their mothers than non-SZnics
= HOWEVER not reliable as patient’s recall may be affected by their SZ
evidence not strong - disads of family dysfunction
evidence for family dysfunction is not very strong
= patterns of parental communication measured in families w/ a SZ child (a study)
= found no difference compared to normal families
= shows that theory may not be specifically related to SZ
parent blaming - disads of family dysfunction
- one problem with the dysfunctional family explanation is that it leads to parent blaming
- parents who have already suffered seeing their child develop SZ + having to bear life-long responsibility for their care
= will also suffer further trauma by being blamed for their child’s condition
= family dysfunction explanations = not entirely ethical
= may cause more harm than help to both
high EE no relapse - disads of family dysfunction
- not all patients who live in EE families relapse
+ not all patients who live in low EE homes aoid relapse - psych found that 1/4 of patients studied showed no physiological response to stressful comments from their relatives
= shows evidence for EE as a contributing factor towards SZ relapse is very mixed
two main cognitive explanations for SZ
- metarepresentation
- central control
meta representation
- cognitive (psychological) explanation for SZ
- the cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts + behaviour
= dysfunction in meta representation would disrupt this ability to recognise our own actions + thoughts as being our own rather than someone else
= explains auditory hallucinations + delusion