Psychological explanations for SZ

Question 1

What is family dysfunction?

Answer 1

• A family consisting of poor communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion.
• These may be risk factors in both development and maintenance of sz.

Question 2

What is the schizophrenogenic mother?

Answer 2

• A mother which is cold, rejecting and controlling, and tends to create family climate characterised by tension and secrecy.
• This accompanied by a weak, passive and ineffectual father.
• This leads to distrust which later leads to symptoms such as delusion of persecution.
• Avolition and DEE

FROMM - REICHMAN 1948

Question 3

What is Double-bind theory?

Bateson 1972

Answer 3

• This is when the parent requests something from the child that cannot be fulfilled.
• Parents send mixed messages which cannot all be met due to their contradictory nature.
• This leaves the child in a no win situation.
• When the child gets it wrong theyre punished with withdrawal of love, leaving them with the idea the world is confusing and dangerous.

Question 4

What symptoms of SZ come out of Double bind theory?

Answer 4

• Delusions
• Disorganised thinking

Question 5

What is Expressed emotion?

What are the 3 elements of EE?

Answer 5

• The level of negative emotion expressed towards a person with SZ by their family.

1. Verbal criticism of the person
2. Hostility towards the person
   (anger and rejection)
3. Emotional over involvement in the life of the person, including needless self-sacrifice.

• High levels of NEE are a serious source of stress for the sufferer.
  This is the primary reason for relapse in people with SZ.
• It has also been suggested that the stress can trigger the onset of SZ in a person who is already vulnerable.

Question 6

What is Deviant communication?

Answer 6

• Wynne believed that parents who failed to recognise the meaning of words used by their children and substitute words of their own may contribute to SZ.
• The children lose grip on reality and become confused, doubting their own feelings and perceptions.

Question 7

Cognitive explanations

What is Dysfunctional thinking?

Answer 7

• Disruption of normal thought processing.

Question 8

Cognitive explanations

What is Metarepresentation dysfunction?

Answer 8

• Metarepresenation is the cognitive ability to refect on thoughts an behaviour.
• Dysfunction leads to patients mistakenly regarding their own thoughts as having come from someone else (auditory hallucinations).
• Frith believes this is caused by abnormalities in the pathway connecting the hippocampus to the prefrontal cortex.

Question 9

What is central control dysfunction?

Answer 9

• Central control is the ability to supress autonomic responses while we perform deliberate actions instead.
• Dysfunction could explain disorganised speech and thought disorders, as SZ patients cant supress automatic responses to stimuli.