Psychological explanations for schizophrenia: Flashcards
family dysfunction and cognitive explanations, including dysfunctional thought processing.
psychological explanation of schizophrenia
family dysfunction: an explanation of SZ that suggests an interpersonal relationship within families results in symptoms
types of family dysfunction
the schizophrenogenic mother
double-bind theory
expressed emotion
explain the schizophrenogenic mother as a psychological explanation for SZ
psychodynamic theory that suggests people with SZ get their paranoid delusions as a result of influence of a cold, rejecting and controlling mother and a passive father - creating an atmosphere of stress, tension and secrecy in the family
this is what triggers psychotic thinking
explain the double bind theory as a psychological explanation for SZ
suggests the child gets mixed messages and feels unable to do the correct thing
e.g. being told to be independent but being overprotected and receiving criticism when they attempt to be independent
Bateson suggests this results in disorganised thinking and paranoia
explain expressed emotion as a psychological explanation for SZ
verbal interacts the caregiver has with the person with SZ
exaggerated involvement: indicates the sufferer is a burden via self-sacrifice e.g. ‘I do so much for you, it’s hard for me’
criticism and control: over sufferers behaviour e.g. ‘you don’t know how to do anything’
hostility: towards the sufferer (physical, verbal or emotional) e.g. ‘you’re a waste of space’
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
dysfunctional though processing: an explanation of SZ that assumes that ability to process thoughts is dysfunctional
types of dysfunctional thought processing
attention deficit theory
central control
meta-representation
explain the attention deficit theory as a cognitive explanation for SZ
Firth suggested SZ is due to a faulty attention system unable to filter preconscious thoughts and gives too much significance to the information that would usually be filtered, therefore, overloading the mind - this accounts for positive symptoms like hallucinations/delusions
explain the central control as a cognitive explanation for SZ
Firth suggested the ability to suppress and override automatic actions and speech and make deliberate actions to achieve goals is sometimes faulty in people with SZ
e.g. seeing a door handle, there may be an automatic urge to open the door - SZ patient could have difficulty resisting this urge and have difficulty explaining the reason - results in delusions
speech derailment can be explained by the inability to resist expressing automatic thoughts
explain meta-representation as a cognitive explanation for SZ
the ability to identify your own thoughts and actins as your own by paying attention to them is meta-representation
faults in this system results in delusions of control - the feeling that your own actions are being created by an outside force
evaluations for family dysfunction as a psychological explanation for SZ
+ Butzlaff and Hooley (1998) used a meta-analysis of 27 studies that relapse into SZ is significantly more in families that have issues with expressed emotion
+ Tienari (2004) studied biological children of schizophrenic mothers who had been adopted - found that 5.8% of those adopted into psychologically healthy families developed SZ compared to 35.8% of children adopted into dysfunctional families - suggests family dysfunction has a significant impact on development of SZ in genetically vulnerable people - diathesis stress model?
- lack of evidence to support double bind theory and schizophrenogenic mother - theories are based on observations and assessments of patients and mothers but lacks empirical evidence - schizophrenogenic mother is an outdated theory
evaluations for dysfunction thought processing as a cognitive explanation for SZ
+ Firth supported his ideas using PET scans which indicated a reduction in blood flow in the frontal cortex in patents with negative symptoms like avolition and the inability to suppress automatic thoughts - scans also showed increased activity in the temporal lobe where retrieval of memories reside results in reality distortion - this suggests biological differences in the brain of people with SZ associated with theorised cognitive processes
+ Stirling et al conducted the Stroop test on 30 patients with SZ and 18 control patients - involved naming the colour of the word not the word itself - found that patients with SZ took twice as long to name the colour as the controls - suggests that patients with SZ do have dysfunctional though processing with faulty central control
general evaluations for psychological explanations for SZ
+ family therapy reduces EE in families - demonstrated to be an effective intervention and supports the family dysfunction argument
+ as CBT for psychosis can be an effective treatment this indicates that cognitive factors are involved in the disorder
- it is socially sensitive to suggest that SZ is caused by families as parents are already dealing with difficulties involving their relatives behaviour - this may additional stress and anxiety by making the family think they are responsible
- cannot demonstrate cause and effect - could be that SZ and its behaviour caused the family dysfunction
- significant amount of research evidence that SZ has a biological cause but family dysfunction may be the trigger - diathesis stress model?
