Psychological explanations for schizophrenia

Question 1

Schizophrenogenic mother

Psychological explanation

Answer 1

Fromm-Reichmann (1948) proposed psychodynamic exp for SZ based on accounts she heard from patients about their childhoods.
Many of her patients spoke of the schizophrenogenic mother (SZ causing).
Schizophrenogenic mother is cold, rejecting and controlling and creates family climate characterised by tension and secrecy. Leads to distrust that develops into paranoid delusions and eventually SZ

Question 2

Double-bind theory

Psychological explanation

Answer 2

Bateson et al (1972) - fam climate is important in development of SZ but emphasised role of comm style
Developing child is trapped in situations where they fear doing wrong fear, sent mixed messages about what this is, feel unable to comment on unfairness or seek clairity.
When they get it wrong, they are punished by withdrawal of love - understanding of world that is confusing and dangerous (leads to symptoms like paranoid delusions)
Bateson was clearn that this was neither main type of comm nor only fatcor (just risk factor)

Question 3

What is expressed emotion?

Psychological explanation

Answer 3

The level of emotion, in particular negative emotion, expressed towards a person with SZ by their carers who are often family members

Question 4

What are the elements of EE?

Psychological explanation

Answer 4

Verbal criticism of the person, occasionally accompanies by violence
Hostility towards the person, including anger and rejection
Emotional overinvolvement in the life of the person, including needless self-sacrifice

Question 5

How can EE effect the individual with SZ?

Psychological explanation

Answer 5

Source of stress
Explanation for relapse rates
Can trigger onset of SZ on person who is already vulnerable

Question 6

Research support (family dysfunction)

Psychological explanation

Answer 6

Strength
Indicators of fam dysfucntion include insecure att and childhood trauma
Read et al (2005) - adults w/ SZ are disproportionately likley to have insecure att. Also 69% of women & 59% of men with SZ have history of physical/sexual abuse
In Morkved et al’s (2017) study, most adults with SZ reported at least 1 childhood trauma.
Suggest fam dysfunction makes people more vulnerable to SZ

Question 7

Explanations lack support (family dysfunction)

Psychological explanation

Answer 7

Limitation
Plenty of evidence to support that childhood family-based stress is associated w/ SZ, there is none to support importance of family-based theories such as SZgenic mother & double bind.
Both theories based on observation of people w/ SZ and informal assessment of their mothers’ personalities
Means fam explanations do not account for link between childhood trauma and SZ

Question 8

Parent-blaming

Psychological explanation

Answer 8

Early explanations for family-SZ link have no research support but research in this ares may be useful in showing that insecure att and childhood trauma effect vulnerability toward SZ
However, research linking fam dysfunction to SZ is highly socially sensitive as it can lead to parent blaming. Mothers seem to be particularly blamed
Parents already watching child experience SZ, to blame them adds insult to injury

Question 9

What is a cognitive explanation for SZ?

Psychological explanation

Answer 9

Dysfunctional thought processing

Question 10

What type of dysfunctional thought processing is associated with negative symptoms? (Simon et al 2015)

Psychological explanation

Answer 10

Reduced thought processing in the ventral striatum

Question 11

What type of dysfunctional thought processing is associated with halluncinations? (Simon et al 2015)

Psychological explanation

Answer 11

Reduced processing of information in the temporal and cingulate gyri

Question 12

What two types of dysfunctional thought processes did Frith et al (1992) indentify?

Psychological explanation

Answer 12

Metarepresentation dysfunction & Central control dysfunction

Question 13

What is metarepresentation?

Psychological explanation

Answer 13

The cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour
Allows us insight into our own intentions and goals
Allows us to interpret actions of others

Question 14

What would dysfunction in metarepresentation mean?

Psychological explanation

Answer 14

It would disrupt our ability to recognise our own actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else
This would explain hallucinations of hearing voices and delusions like thought insertion

Question 15

What is central control?

Psychological explanation

Answer 15

The cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions

Question 16

What could result from central control dysfunction?

Psychological explanation

Answer 16

The inability to suppress automatic thoughts could result in speech poverty and thought disorder
E.g. people with SZ experience derailment of thoughts because each word triggers associations and the person can’t suppres automatic responses to these

Question 17

Research support (dysfunctional thought processing)

Psychological explanation

Answer 17

Strength
Stirling et al (2006) compared performance on range of cog tasks in 30 people with SZ and a control group of 30 people without. Tasks included the Stroop test, would have to suppress tendency to read words aloud.
As predictied by Frith’s central control theory, people with SZ took over twice as long to name font-colours.
Means that cog processes of people with SZ are impaired

Question 18

Proximal explanation (dysfunctional thought processing)

Psychological explanation

Answer 18

Limitation because they explain what is happening now to produce symptoms, while distal explanations focus on what caused the condition.
Possible distal explanations are genetic and family dysfunction explanations.
What is currently unclear is how genetic varitaion or childhood trauma might lead to probs with metarep and cent control
Means cog theories on their own only provide partial explanations for SZ

Question 19

Psychological or biological?

Psychological explanation

Answer 19

Cog appraoch provides explanation for symptoms of SZ - arguement for seeing SZ primarily as a psychological condition
However, appears abnormal cognition associated with SZ is partly genetic in origin and the result of abnormal brain development (Toulopoulou et al 2019) - would suggest that SZ is a bio condition