Psychological explanations Flashcards
What are the 2 psychological explanations of schizophrenia?
Family dysfunction and cognitive explanations
What is family dysfunction?
The presence of problems within a family that contribute to relapse rates in recovering schizophrenics
Who proposed the double bind theory?
Bateson
What is the double bind theory?
The theory that children who frequently receive contradictory messages from their parents are more likely to develop schizophrenia
Give one example of the double bind theory.
A mother tells her son she loves him, but shouts it and looks away in disgust
How do double bind statements lead to schizophrenia?
They can lead to an internally incoherent construction of reality, and may manifest as schizophrenic symptoms
What is expressed emotion?
A hostile family communication style between family members
Are high EE family members talkers or listeners?
They talk more and listen less
How much more likely are schizophrenics with high EE families to relapse?
4x
What can be said about the thought processing of schizophrenics?
It is dysfunctional
What does dysfunctional thought processing lead to?
Positive symptoms
Which two biases do schizophrenics most commonly experience?
Egocentric bias + Jumping to conclusions bias
What is egocentric bias?
When an individual incorrectly percieves themself as the central component in events
What is jumping to conclusions bias?
When an individual jumps to conclusions based on inadequate information
What is the cognitive explanation of delusions?
The patients interpretations of their experiences are controlled by inadeqaute information processing
What is the cognitive explanation of hallucinations?
The individual focuses excessive attention on auditory stimuli
How does hypervigilance lead to hallucinations?
They have a higher expectancy for the occurence of a voice than ‘normal’ individuals
What do hallucination prone individuals find it difficult to distinguish between?
Imagery and sensory-based perception
What are the 2 AO3 points of family dysfunction explanations of schizophrenia?
1) Individual differences to EE
2) Support for double bind
What percentage of schizophrenic patients had no physiological responses to stressful comments from their relatives?
25%
What suggests there are individual differences in the effect of EE?
Not all schizophrenics who live in high EE families relapse, and not all non-schizophrenics who live in low EE families avoid relapse
What did one psychologist find schizophrenics had a higher recall of than non-schizophrenics?
Double bind statements
Why is double bind theory valuable?
It led to the development of family therapy
What are the 2 AO3 points of cognitive explanations of schizophrenia?
1) Support from the success of cognitive therapies
2) Support for the cognitive models
What supports the belief that the symptoms of schizophrenia are caused by dysfunctional thought processing?
The success of cognitive-based therapies
Which review demonstrated the effectiveness of CBTp?
The NICE review
What did the NICE review into the effectiveness of CBTp find?
That when paired with antipsychotics, CBTp was highly effective at reducing symptom severity + improving levels of social functioning
What were delusional schizophrenics found to have?
Various biases in their information processing
What do schizophrenics who suffer from hallucinations found to have?
Impaired self monitoring + tended to experience their own thoughts as voices
