Psychological Explanations - Family Dysfunction Flashcards
Why did the psychological explanations for schizophrenia originate?
Psychologists have attempted to link schizophrenia to childhood and adult experiences of living in a dysfunctional family.
What is family dysfunction in psychological explanations?
This refers to processes within a family such as poor family communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion.
These may be risk factors for both the development and maintenance of schizophrenia
What are the three aspects of family dysfunction?
The schizophrenogenic mother
Double bind theory
Expressed emotion
What did Fromm- Reichmann propose as part of the psychological explanations?
Fromm-Reichmann proposed a psychodynamic explanation for schizophrenia based on the accounts she heard from her patients about their childhood.
Many of her patients spoke about a particular type of parent, which she called the schizophrenogenic mother.
What does schizophrenogenic mean?
Schizophrenia-causing
What is the role of the father in schizophrenogenic mother?
The father is usually passive.
What are characteristics of the schizophrenogenic mother?
- Cold
- Controlling
- Rejecting
These create a family environment characterised by tension and secrecy.
What do characteristics of a schizophrenogenic mother lead to?
This leads to distrust that later develops into paranoid delusions (i.e. beliefs of being persecuted by another person) and ultimately schizophrenia.
What did Bateson et al propose as part of the psychological explanations?
Double Bind Theory
He agreed that family climate is important in the development of schizophrenia but emphasised the role of the communication style within a family
How does the double bind theory occur in a child’s upbringing?
- The developing child often find themselves trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing
- But receive mixed messaged about what the wrong thing is
- They also feel unable to comment on the unfairness/ seek clarification
- The child is punished by withdrawal of love
- This leaves the child thinking the world is confusing/ dangerous - this can be reflected in symptoms like disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions
What did Bateson clarify about the double bind theory?
He made is clear that this was neither the main type of communication in the family of someone with schizophrenia or the only factor in developing schizophrenia but just a risk factor.
What is expressed emotion?
The level of emotion, expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their careers who are often family members.
What are the elements of expressed emotion?
- Verbal criticism -occasionally accompanied by violence
- Hostility - including anger and rejection
- Emotional overinvolvement - including needless self sacrifice
How is expressed emotion linked to symptoms of schizophrenia?
High levels of EE cause extreme levels of stress which is a primary explanation for relapse
What is another suggestion about EE and its link with stress?
EE may be a source of stress that can trigger the onset of schizophrenia in a person who is already vulnerable
What is a strength of the FD psychological explanation?
P - evidence linking family dysfunction to SZ
E - indicators of FD include insecure attachment and exposure to childhood trauma, especially abuse
E - a review by Read et al found that adults with SZ are disproportionately likely to have insecure attachment (C or D)
He found that 69% of women and 59% of men with SZ have a history of physical or sexual abuse
recently, Morkved et al found that most adults with SZ reported at least one childhood trauma
L - strongly suggests that FD makes people more vulnerable to SZ
What is another strength of the FD psychological explanation?
P - research in this area may be useful in showing that insecure attachment leads to vulnerability to SZ
E - so there is a sound research basis to investigate the links between family dysfunction and SZ
E - research specifically into the DB and schizoprenogenic mother allows us to supress rather than ignore early theories
What is a counterpoint to the research into FD psychological explanation?
P - however, it is a highly soically sensitive because it can lead to parent blaming
E - parents already having to watch their child experience symptoms of SZ and take responsibility for them, being blamed is insulting
L - a psychological theory should not cause harm to people like SZ mother and DB
What is a limitation of the FD psychological explanation?
P - poor evidence base for any of the explanations
E - though there is evidence supporting the idea that childhood family based stress is linked with adult SZ, there is none to support the importance of traditional family based theories like schizophrenogenic mother/ double bind
E - both theories are based on clinical observation of people with SZ + informal assessment of their mother’s personalities but not systematic evidence
L - family explanations haven’t been able to account for the link between childhood trauma and SZ
