psychological explanations of schizophrenia Flashcards
What do psychological explanations of schizophrenia focus on
the psychological environment, and specifically the family and their role in making individuals vulnerable to schizophrenia.
According to family theories, what is schizophrenia a consequence of
Maladaptive behaviour and poor communication within the family
What did Bateson suggest
The double bind hypthothesis
What is the double bind hypothesis
where children are given conflicting messages from parents who express care, yet at the same time appear critical, which was thought to lead to confusion, self doubt and withdrawal.
What is an example of the double bind hypothesis
if a mother tells her son that she loves him and then turns away in disgust, the child receives two conflicting messages about their relationship on communicative levels.
What does the interactions of double bind prevent
the development of an internally coherent construction of reality, and in the long run this manifests itself as schizophrenic symptoms (e.g. flattened effect and withdrawal).
What are two psychological theories of schizophrenia
maladaptive behaviour and poor communication within the family (double bind hypthesis) AND expressed emotion
What is expressed emotion
a family communication style that involves high levels of criticism, hostility and emotional over-involvement.
what has research shown about individuals from families with high expressed emotion
They are 3.7 times more likely to relapse than in families with low expressed emotion.
Evaluation of psychological explanations of so
- The cognitive approach could explain symptoms such as hallucinations
- it is unfalsifiable and so it is impossible to test its credibility
- ethical issue of attributing blame to the families.
Evaluation: The cognitive approach could explain symptoms such as hallucinations
The cognitive approach could explain symptoms such as hallucinations which are related to cognitive functioning but it cannot explain symptoms such as flat affect and mannerism and other negative symptoms so it cannot explain the whole complexity of the disorder. The cognitive approach has also helped design therapies such as CBT which has shown to be helpful in the treatment of schizophrenia. However this therapy is mostly used in conjunction with drug treatment so it is difficult to ascertain which has led to the improvement. The approach also cannot explain why close relatives have higher risks of developing the disorder than the general population as it simply describes the symptom in terms of deficits in cognitive processes but it does not actually explain where these deficits come from.
Evaluation: it is unfalsifiable and so it is impossible to test its credibility.
Criticism for the psychodynamic approach can come from the fact that it is unfalsifiable and so it is impossible to test its credibility. If it is not objective and is just based on Freud’s subjective opinion then it lacks the principle features of science. Furthermore Waring contradicted the account of mothers being harsh and instead he found that they tended to be anxious, shy and withdrawn. It can also be argued that the difference with schizophrenic mothers is simply just an effect of having to live with a relative with schizophrenia. Psychodynamic approaches also suggest that the problems arise in childhood and so they cannot explain why schizophrenia does not develop until late adolescence.
Evaluation: ethical issues of attributing blame to the families.
Problems with psychological explanations as a whole are the ethical issue of attributing blame to the families. As psychological explanations believe the onset on schizophrenia is mainly due to a disturbed upbringing, this attributes blame onto the patient’s family. This could have serious ethical implications especially since the role of biological factors have substantial supporting evidence which highlights that it must not be the family environment alone that causes the illness and so psychological explanations are reductionist and unnecessarily place blame onto the family.
