Psychological Explanations of Schizophrenia (Paper 3)* Flashcards
What does the double-bind theory state causes schizophrenia?
Contradictory verbal or non-verbal messages from one family member to another causes an individual to feel trapped as they are unsure as to which message to respond to.
Give an example of the double-bind theory.
A parent tells a child, “You never know how to act properly around others, go to your room” - the chilld cannot improve social skills whilst in the confides of their room.
What is the cause of schizophrenia according to the expressed emotion explanation?
Verbal criticism, hostility or overinvolvement in a sufferer’s life may cause the sufferer to relapse into schizophrenia when placed back into their family environment.
Give two advantages of the family dysfunction explanations of schizophrenia.
Advantages:
- Supporting evidence for family dysfunction - Patino et al. - participants who had experienced 3/7 relevant problems in family dysfunction were 4 times more likely to be vulnerable to schizophrenia.
- Supporting evidence for expressed emotion - Kavanagh - review of 26 studies - relapse rates for schizophrenics returning to families with EE was 48% compared with 21%
Give two disadvantages of the family dysfunction explanation of schizophrenia.
Disadvantages:
- Research is not empirical - often gather information from the patient themselves - interview or otherwise - symptoms of schizophrenia may inhibit memories - lacking validity as an explanation.
- Overlook biological factors - diathesis-stress model suggests that environmental stimuli act as a trigger for underlying biological predispositions - e.g. a lack of brain matter may make a person more susceptible to double-bind or expressed emotion.
How does a lack of meta-cognition cause schizophrenia?
An inability to comprehend the difference between internally-generated experiences and externally-produced sensory perceptions may result in the sufferer misinterpreting their internal thoughts as caused by an external stimulus.
What does a lack of meta-cognition cause?
Typically causes auditory hallucinations.
How does a lack of central control cause schizophrenia?
An inability to suppress automatic thoughts may lead to derailment during conversation (loss of concentration). It can be caused by a particular word triggering associations to other words.
Give two advantages of the cognitive explanations of schizophrenia.
Advantages:
- Supporting evidence for a lack of meta-cognition - Knoblich et al. - schizophrenics were less able to detect a mismatch in their self-generated movements and the consequence on a screen - schizophrenics lack the ability to distinguish between internal and external signals.
- Supporting evidence for a lack of central control - Stirling et al. - 30 schizophrenics took twice as long to correctly read the word on a Stroop Test - schizophrenia is linked to a lack of central control.
Give a disadvantage of the cognitive explanations of schizophrenia.
Disadvantage:
- No causation - difficult to ascertain the true cause, whether that be cognition or biology - patients are only studied after they have been diagnosed - difficulty in proving cognition is the cause.
