Psychological explanation for schizophrenia Flashcards
What are the 2 psychological explanations for schizophrenia?
Family dysfunction
The cognitive explanation - dysfunctional thought processing
What are the 3 parts to the family dysfunction explanation?
- The schizophrenogenic mother.
- Double bind theory.
- Expressed emotion.
Who cam up with the schizophrenogenic mother theory?
Fromm-Reichmann.
Explain the schizophrenogenic mother theory as an explanation for schizophrenia?
- Psychodynamic explanation based on accounts Fromm-Reichmann heard from her patients about their childhood.
A schizophrenogenic mother is: - cold
- rejecting
- controlling
- tends to create a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy.
This leads to distrust which later develops into paranoid delusions, and ultimately schizophrenia.
What is a schizophrenogenic mother like?
Cold
Rejecting
Controlling
Who came up with the double bind theory?
Bateson
Explain the double bind theory as an explanation for schizophrenia?
- Placed emphasis on the role of communication style within a family.
- A developing child feels trapped in situations where they feel they’re doing wrong and they receive mixed messages about what this is.
- They feel unable to seek clarification.
- When they get it wrong (quite often) the child is then punished by withdrawal of love.
- The child then feels the world is confusing and dangerous.
- This is then reflected in symptoms like disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions.
Explain the expressed emotion theory as an explanation for schizophrenia?
- Level of emotion expressed towards a patient by their carer.
- EE contains several elements:
Verbal criticism of patient (potentially accompanied by violence)
Hostility towards patient (anger and rejection)
Emotional over-involvement in the life of the patient (needless self sacrifice) - High levels of EE in carers towards patients are a serious source of stress and is primarily an explanation for relapse.
- Has been argued that it may be a source of stress that can trigger the onset of schizophrenia in a person who is already vulnerable.
What does the cognitive explanation focus on?
Mental processes
Give an example of when schizophrenia disrupts normal thought processing.
Ventral striatum associated with avolition due to reducing processing.
Temporal and cingulate gyri are associated with hallucinations due to reduced processing.
Who identified 2 kinds of dysfunctional thought processing?
Frith
What are the 2 kinds of dysfunctional thought processing?
Metarepresentation
Central control
Describe what metarepresentation is.
- The cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour.
- Allows us to have insight into our own intentions and goals.
- Allows us to interpret the actions of others.
- Dysfunction would disrupt this and would therefore explain hallucinations of voices and delusions like thought insertion.
What is thought insertion?
The experience of having thoughts projected into the mind by others.
Describe what central control is.
- The cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions instead.
- Disorganised speech and thought disorder could result from the inability to suppress automatic thoughts and speech triggered by other thoughts.
