Psychological explanations Flashcards
Outline the cognitive model.
One psychological explanation for Schizophrenia (Sz) is the cognitive model. Sz according to the cognitive model suggests that faulty thought processes are linked to many schizophrenic symptoms, such as hallucinations and disordered thinking, which suggest a cognitive input. This explanation acknowledges the role of biological factors in causing the initial sensory experiences of Sz. The cognitive viewpoint is that maladaptive thinking is strongly linked to Sz and many of its symptoms such as hallucinations. A particular focus of interest has been the role of attention with the possibility that Schizophrenics cannot filter out irrelevant sensory information and so are bombarded with data that they cannot interpret meaningfully and therefore experience a different sensory world from that of others.
What did Frith suggest?
Frith (1992) claimed that the filter between the conscious and the preconscious are faulty and so unimportant information gets into our conscious awareness and Schizophrenics feel they have to pay attention to it because it is important. Frith believes that auditory hallucinations come from being bombarded from sounds both verbal and non verbal and he believes that the preconscious mechanisms test out various hypotheses before a final interpretation is passed to the conscious awareness. Frith believes that this fault filter is underpinned by irregular neural pathways linking to the hippocampus to the pre-frontal cortex, which is linked to the faulty production of dopamine.
What did Helmsley suggest?
Helmsley proposed that a breakdown occurs between information already stored in memory and new incoming data. Stored information is used to create schemas which allow us to interpret and deal with current situations but in Sz brains, schemas are not activated. He believes that Schizophrenics experience sensory overload and do not know which aspects of a situation to pay attention to. Helmsley also believes that this misinterpretation is caused by abnormalities in he hippocampus.
Limitations of the Cognitive model?
However, there is a limitation to cognitive theories as cognitive theories in themselves do not really explain the causes of Sz but simply describe some of the symptoms in cognitive terms. Therefore, in order to explain the origins of Sz, they need to be combined with the biological model. Therefore cognitive theories may not be able to offer a full explanation of Sz, but they may help to explain the origins of particular symptoms.
Advantage of the cognitive model?
However, an advantage of the cognitive explanation is that it acknowledges biological explanations too, using neurophysical models. Meyer-Lindenberg found a link between excessive dopamine in the personal cortex and poor working memory. This is linked to the dopamine explanation of schizophrenia.
Another disadvantage of the cognitive model?
A major disadvantage of cognitive theories is that there is no unequivocal evidence to support the model. Unlike various biological explanations of Sz, it is nearly impossible to obtain any empirical or scientific support and therefore we cannot rely solely on this model. For example Helmsley has tried to link his cognitive model to an underlying neurological system, in particular to the hippocampus and related brain structures. However, there is very little clear-cut empirical evidence. On the other hand, there has been some promising research supporting his ideas however, this research involves the use of animals. This is a problem as we cannot learn much about human behaviour from animal experiments as humans live in a more complex social world and have much more complex cognitions. Therefore we cannot generalise any animal research findings to humans and at the very least we need to verify these animal findings with findings from human studies.
Further criticism of the cognitive model?
We can also argue that cognitive explanations of Sz, such as Frith’s model are too reductionist in that they fail to take into account the role of environmental factors. Environmental factors such as the role of social and family relationships have contributed to explanations of Sz and so we cannot disregard them completely. Research has shown that a major stress factor has been associated with a higher risk of schizophrenic episodes is the occurrence of stressful life events, for example the death of a close relative. In a study by Brown and Birley, it was found that prior to a schizophrenic episode, patients who had experienced Sz had reported twice as many stressful life events compared to a healthy control group.
What did Bateson suggest?
Bateson et al also suggested the double-bind theory where children who receive contradictory messages from their parents are more likely o develop Sz. For example, a mother telling her son she loves him yet, at the same time turning away in disgust. It is thought that the child will receive conflicting messages about verbal and non verbal communication and these interactions prevent coherent constructions of reality, and in the long terms manifest itself into Sz symptoms.
Explain the idea of expressed emotions.
Another family variable associated with Sz is a high degree of expressed emotions. Expressed emotion refers to a family communication style that involves criticism, hostility and over-involvement and high levels of expressed emotion are associated with high relapse rates, suggesting that this also has an impact on explaining Sz. As the cognitive model fails to recognise any of these environmental factors, a disadvantage is that it is possibly too simplistic.
Outline the psychodynamic aproach.
Another psychological explanation of Sz is the psychodynamic approach. The basic assumption of the psychodynamic model is that our adult characteristics are rooted in our childhoods experiences are are a result of problems between the developing personality. Also, that unconscious repressed instinctual drives and negative child experiences are mainly responsible for an individual’s problems. Freud believed that if the world of a schizophrenic has been particular harsh in the childhood environment, the indivudals may regress to an earlier stage in development before the ego was properly developed and before he or she had developed realistic awareness of the external world and so Schizophrenics have a loss of contact with reality because their ego is no longer functioning properly. The psychodynamic approach explains some symptoms such as auditory hallucinations as the schizophrenics attempt to establish the ego.
Criticisms of the psychodynamic approach?
- One major criticism of the psychodynamic explanation of Sz is that there is no evidence to support this view and it fails to explain the complexity of the disorder. There is little empirical research evidence to suggest that Schizophrenics regress back to an earlier life stage, as most schizophrenics do not resemble very young children.
- The approach is also unscientific as it is different to falsify. For example, a person may admit to negative feelings or may deny such feelings-but such denial could be taken to indicate that they are simply regressing such feelings and so whatever the person says could be taken to indicate negative feelings
- The psychodynamic approach does not offer effective treatments. In general, psychodynamic treatments aim of find childhood conflicts however; this is no relevant for Sz. Comer found that psychodynamic therapy for Sz has generally proved to be unsuccessful which suggests that the psychodynamic explanation for Sz is not accurate. Recent research has actually suggested that psychodynamic therapies far from making schizophrenics better, may actually make them worse which suggests that the explanation is heavily flawed.
What did Rosen claim?
Rosen tried to claim some success with the treatment of psychoanalysis however; he was heavily criticised and accusing of using patients who were not Sz and faking data. Therefore his data was discredited.
Outline the psychodynamic therapy.
Psychoanalytic therapy is based on assumption that individuals are usually unaware of the influence of unconscious conflicts on their current psychological state. The aim of the therapy is to help bring these conflicts into the conscious mind so they can be dealt with. It assumes all symptoms are meaningful and a product of the life history of the individual patient.
During the therapy, the therapist attempts to create an alliance with the patient by offering real help with what the patient perceives as the problem, the more severe the problem, the more help needs to be given. Although Freud thought that schizophrenics couldn’t be analysed as they couldn’t form transference with the analyst, forms of psychodynamic therapy have sometimes been found successful.
What did Tarrier suggest?
Tarrier (1990) has suggested that the over-stimulation provided by such therapy can promote relapse, which shows that the treatment is only good in the short-run.
Weakness of the psychoanalytic therapy?
There is also some serious methodological flaw with the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy to treat schizophrenia e.g. random allocation was not introduced. It is also impossible to draw definite conclusions for or against the effectiveness of it as it focuses on unconscious thoughts and cannot be falsified like other forms of treatment.
