Psychological explanations for schizophrenia Flashcards
Psychologists have attempted to link schizophrenia to childhood and adult experiences of…
living in a dysfunctional family
Who proposed the schizophrenogenic mother explanation for schizophrenia?
Freida Fromm-Reichmann
The schizophrenogenic mother explanation for schizophrenia is a _____________ explanation
psychodynamic
Freida Fromm-Reichmann’s proposal of the schizophrenogenic mother is based on what?
The accounts she heard from her patients about their childhoods
True/False: Freida Fromm-Reichmann was a psychiatrist
True
Freida Fromm-Reichmann noted that many of her patients spoke of a particular type of parent. What did she call them?
The ‘schizophrenogenic mother’
Schizophrenogenic
schizophrenia-causing
What did Freida Fromm-Reichmann say were the key traits of the schizophrenogenic mother?
Cold, rejecting, controlling, and tends to create a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy
Freida Fromm-Reichmann said that the schizophrenogenic mother creates a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy, which leads to what?
distrust
Freida Fromm-Reichmann said that the schizophrenogenic mother creates a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy, which leads to distrust and later develops into what?
paranoid delusions
Freida Fromm-Reichmann said that the schizophrenogenic mother creates a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy, which leads to distrust and later develops into paranoid delusions and ultimately what?
schizophrenia
Beliefs of being persecuted by another person is an example of what trait of schizophrenia?
paranoid delusions
Bateson et al. agreed/disagreed that family climate is important in the development of schizophrenia
agreed
Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory emphasised the role of what within a family?
communication style
What was Bateson et al.’s theory called in regards to developing schizophrenia?
Double-bind theory
Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory said that the developing child regularly finds themselves _______ in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing
trapped
Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory said that the developing child regularly finds themselves trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing, and they receive…
mixed messages about what this is
Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory says that the child feels unable to do what?
Comment on the unfairness of the situation or seek clarification
If a child ‘gets it wrong’ and is punished by the withdrawal of love, this is an example of what theory?
Double-bind theory
Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory suggests that when children ‘get it wrong’ the child is punished by what?
The withdrawal of love
Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory suggests that punishment by the withdrawal of love happens rarely/often
often
Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory says that regularly being punished by the withdrawal of love leaves children with an understanding of the world as…
confusing and dangerous
An understanding of the world as confusing and dangerous as a result of frequent punishment by the withdrawal of love (Bateson et al.’s double-bind theory) is reflected in which symptoms of schizophrenia?
Disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions
Bateson et al. was clear that what is not the main type of communication in the family?
Children regularly finding themselves trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing and get punished by the withdrawal of love when they ‘get it wrong’
True/False: Bateson et al. said that his double-bind theory was the only factor in developing schizophrenia
False: just a risk factor
Expressed emotion
The level of emotion expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their carers
Expressed emotion refers to the level of emotion expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their carers, in a particular positive/negative emotion
negative
Expressed emotion refers to the level of emotion expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their carers, often…
family members
Give 2 examples of elements of expressed emotion
Any 2 from verbal criticism of the person, hostility towards the person and emotional overinvolvement in the life of the person
Expressed emotion contains verbal criticism of the person, occasionally accompanied by…
violence
Expressed emotion contains hostility towards the person including _____ and _________
anger, rejection
Expressed emotion contains emotional overinvolvement in the life of the person, including…
needless self-sacrifice
High levels of expressed emotion towards someone with schizophrenia are a serious source of what for them?
Stress
High levels of expressed emotion towards someone with schizophrenia causing stress is primarily an explanation for what in people with schizophrenia?
relapse
It has been suggested that expressed emotion may be a source of stress that can trigger what in someone who is vulnerable?
The onset of schizophrenia
It has been suggested that expressed emotion may be a source of stress that can trigger the onset of schizophrenia in someone who is already vulnerable, e.g. due to their…
genetic makeup (diathesis-stress model)
True/False: One strength of explanations linking living in a dysfunctional family to schizophrenia is that there is evidence to support them
True
Indicators of family dysfunction include which type of attachment?
Insecure
Insecure attachment is caused by exposure to what?
Childhood trauma, especially abuse
Read et al. found that adults with schizophrenia are disproportionately likely to have which type of attachment?
insecure attachment
Read et al. found that adults with schizophrenia are proportionately/disproportionately likely to have insecure attachment
disproportionately
Read et al. found that adults with schizophrenia are disproportionately likely to have insecure attachment, particularly which types?
C or D
Read et al. reported that __% of women and __% of men with schizophrenia have a history of physical/sexual abuse
69, 59
What did Mørkved et al.’s study into the link between childhood trauma and schizophrenia find?
Most adults with schizophrenia reported at least one childhood trauma: mostly abuse
Mørkved et al. found that most adults with schizophrenia reported at least one childhood trauma: mostly _____
abuse
Read et al.’s review strongly suggests that family dysfunction…
makes people more vulnerable to schizophrenia
True/False: There is lots of evidence supporting the idea that family-based stress is associated with adult schizophrenia
True
True/False: There is lots of evidence supporting the importance of traditional family-based theories such as the schizophrenogenic mother and double-bind
False: there is almost no evidence to support these
The schizophrenogenic mother and double-blind are examples of traditional family-based/childhood family-based theories
traditional family-based theories
Both the schizophrenogenic mother and double-bind are based on what?
Clinical observation of people with schizophrenia and informal assessment of their mother’s personalities
Both the schizophrenogenic mother and double-bind are based on what clinical observation of people with schizophrenia and informal assessment of their mother’s personalities, and not…
systematic evidence
The poor evidence base for any traditional family-based explanations of schizophrenia mean that family explanations may not have been able to…
account for the link between childhood trauma and schizophrenia
Although early explanations for the family-schizophrenia link have no support, research in this area may be useful in showing that…
insecure attachment and experience of childhood trauma affect individual vulnerability to schizophrenia
Why is research linking family dysfunction to schizophrenia highly socially sensitive?
It can lead to parent-blaming
Mothers/fathers seem to be particularly blamed for their child having schizophrenia
Mothers
What is the problem with parent-blaming?
For parents already having to watch their child experience the symptoms of schizophrenia and take responsibility for their care, to be blamed adds insult to injury
Cognitive explanation
An explanation that focuses on the role of mental processes
Schizophrenia is associated with several types of _____________ thought processing
dysfunctional
True/False: Types of dysfunctional thought processing can provide possible explanations for schizophrenia as a whole
True
Schizophrenia is characterised by the disruption of what?
Normal thought processing
Reduced thought processing in the ventral striatum is associated with positive/negative symptoms
negative
Reduced processing of information in the temporal and cingulate gyri is associated with which positive symptom of schizophrenia?
hallucinations
The lower-than-usual level of information processing in people with schizophrenia suggests that…
cognition is likely to be impaired
Frith et al. identified ___ kinds of dysfunctional thought processes
two
Frith et al. identified two kinds of what?
Dysfunctional thought processes
Metarepresentation
The cognitive ability to reflect on our thoughts and behaviour
Metarepresentation allows us insight into…
our own intentions and goals
Metarepresentation allows us to interpret the…
actions of others
Frith et al. suggested that dysfunction in metarepresentation would disrupt our ability to recognise…
our own actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else
Frith et al.’ suggestion that dysfunction in metarepresentation would disrupt our ability to recognise our own actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves would explain some symptoms of schizophrenia such as…
Hallucinations of hearing voices and delusions like thought insetion
Thought insertion
The experience of having thoughts projected into the mind by others
Frith et al. also identified issues with the cognitive ability to suppress what in schizophrenic people?
Automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions
Frith et al. suggested that speech poverty and thought disorder could result from…
the inability to suppress automatic thoughts and speech triggered by other thoughts
True/False: People with schizophrenia tend to experience derailment of thoughts
True
People with schizophrenia tend to experience derailment of thoughts because…
each word triggers associations
People with schizophrenia tend to experience derailment of thoughts because each word triggers associations, and the person cannot…
suppress automatic responses to these
What did Stirling et al. do?
Compared performance on a range of cognitive tasks in 30 people with schizophrenia
Stirling et al. compared performance on a range of _________ tasks in 30 people with schizophrenia
cognitive
Stirling et al. compared performance on a range of cognitive tasks in __ people with schizophrenia
30
Who did Stirling et al. compare the performance of 30 people with schizophrenia with?
30 people without schizophrenia
What was Stirling et al.’s Stroop task?
Participants had to name the font-colours of colour-words and suppress the tendency to read the words aloud
As predicted by Frith et al.’s central control theory, how did people with schizophrenia perform in Stirling et al.’s Stroop task?
It took them over twice as long on average compared to the control group without schizophrenia
It took people with schizophrenia over _____ as long on average to complete Stirling et al.’s Stroop task compared to the control group
twice
The fact that people with schizophrenia took over twice as long on average to complete Stirling et al.’s Stroop task means that the cognitive processes of people with schizophrenia are ________
impaired
What does it mean when we say a limitation of cognitive explanations of schizophrenia are proximal explanations?
They explain what is happening now to produce the symptoms, but not what initially caused the condition (distal explanations)
Distal explanations focus on…
what initially caused the condition
What are possible distal explanations for schizophrenia?
Genetic and family dysfunction explanations
True/False: How genetic variation or childhood trauma may lead to problems with metarepresentation or central control is clear and well-addressed
False, it is unclear and not well-addressed
Cognitive theories on their own provide partial/full explanations for schizophrenia
partial
The cognitive approach provides an excellent/poor explanation for the symptoms of schizophrenia
excellent
As a result of the cognitive approach providing an excellent explanation for the symptoms of schizophrenia, there is an argument for seeing schizophrenia primarily as a…
psychological condition
What is the argument against schizophrenia being primarily a psychological condition?
It appears that the abnormal cognition associated with schizophrenia is partly genetic in origin - the result of abnormal brain development
It appears that the abnormal cognition associated with schizophrenia is partly genetic in origin - this would suggest that schizophrenia is a psychological/biological condition
biological
Who argued that abnormal cognition associated with schizophrenia is partly genetic in origin as its a result of abnormal brain development?
Toulopoulou et al.
