Psychological explanations for Schizophrenia ( Family dysfunction)

Question 1

Define Family dysfunction

Answer 1

refers to the processes within a family such as poor family communication, cold parenting & high levels of expressed emotion that are risk factors for both development & maintenenace of SZ

Question 2

A01

Outline the Psychological explanations for SZ ( Reichmann)

Answer 2

Psychologists linked SZ to childhood & adult experiences of living in a dysfunctional family ( family dysfunction)
The Schizophrenogenic mother- Reichmann(1948) proposed a psychodynamic explanation for SZ based on accounts from her patients about their childhood
Noted her patients spoke of a particular type of parent, the Schizophrenogenic mother, which is cold , rejecting & controling creating a family climate charaterised by tension leading to distrust that develops into paranoid delusions

Question 3

A01

Outline the Double-Blind Theory
(Bateson)

Answer 3

Bateson et al(1972)
emphasised the role of communication styles within a family
A developing child finds themselves trapped in situations where they fear doing wrong but recieve mixed signals & feel unable to comment on unfairness of a situation /seek clarification

e.g when getting somethig wrong ,child is punished by withdrawal of love leaving them with an understanding of world as confusing & dangerous which is restricted in symptoms like disorganised thinking & paranoid delusons

Question 4

A01

Outline expressed emotion refer to Bateson

Answer 4

Expressed emotion is the level of emotion, particulalry negative emotion expressed towards a person with SZ by their family members:
* Emotional overinvolvement in life of the person
* verbal criticism of the person
* Hostility towards a person

Question 5

A03

Not a useful explanation

limitation of Expressed Emotion theory (Bateson)its a symptom not cause

Limitation

Answer 5

One limitation of the Expressed Emotion theory is that high expressed emotion amongst families could be a symptom of Sz rather than a cause
This means the explanation isn’t entirely useful to us as a means to understand how to prevent conditions in which Sz would develop, and so loses some explanatory power

Question 6

A03

Outine how EE (expressed emotion) poses ethical concerns

Limitation

Answer 6

The EE theory has ethical issues

The family dysfunction explanation implies that parents are responsible for the problems of their children
Suggesting that parents are responsible could cause psychological harm to parents of schizophrenics as it blames them for their child’s illness – something that could undermine their ability to help their child
This reduces the usefulness of this theory in application of managing schizophrenic symptoms

Question 7

A03

psychodynamic explanations dont recognise biological factors

limitation

Answer 7

psychological exp for SZ do not accommodate for biological
factors.
biological factors can explain the distal origins of schizophrenia (i.e. in terms of
dopamine levels in the brain, candidate genes & neural correlates), this suggests that psychological explanations would best be reserved for the
proximal causes of SZ, as these causes are more likely to be most affected by psychological factors.