psychological explanations of schizophrenia Flashcards
what is the family dysfunction explanation of schizophrenia ?
claims that schizo is caused by abnormal patterns of communication within the family
what can family dysfunction increase ?
relapse rates in people recovering from schizophrenia
what are three types of family dysfunction ?
double bind theory, expressed emotion, schizophrenogenic mother
who suggested the double bind theory of schizophrenia ?
Bateson et al (1956)
what is the double bind theory ?
- children who often receive contradictory messages from parents are more likely to develop schizophrenia
what is an example of a contradictory message that a child might receive ?
mother tells her son that she loves him, but at the same time turns her head away in disgust
how do the contradictory messages lead to the development of schizophrenia ?
- obstructs the development of an internally coherent construction of reality
- this can show itself as symptoms of schizophrenia ion long term ie flattened affect + withdrawal
what is expressed emotion ?
family members of patient speak about patient in a hostile/critical way or in a way that indicates over-concern with them and their behav
what did Linszen et al find about relapse rates for patients returning to EE relatives ?
patients returning to families high in expressed emotion are 4 times more likely to relapse than if family is low in expressed emotion
how does high expressed emotion lead to schizophrenia developing ?
- negative emotional climate triggers patient
- already have impaired coping mechanisms, and so they can’t cope with the stress of the intense emotional environment
- this triggers schizophrenic episode
who proposed theory of schizophrenogenic mother ?
Reichmann ( 1948)
what is the theory of the schizphrenogenic mother ?
- schizophrenogenic mother is cold, rejecting, controlling
- this creates a tense + secretive family environment
how does the schizophrenogenic mother theory lead to schizo developing ?
causes distrust, which develops into paranoid delusions
theory implies that mother induces the illness
what are some evaluation points for schizophrenogenic mother theory ?
- self report
based on client anecdotes - lack of temporal validity
- socially sensitive research ( parent blaming)
- androcentric + alpha bias
mother would have been more at home in 1940s
what is the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia ?
proposes that abnormalities in cognitive function can cause schizo
people who have schizo have dysfunctional thought processing ( evidence has been found when compared to normal controls)
how can thought processes be dysfunctional in people with schizophrenia
- faulty attention system
- lack of central control
- meta representation
who suggested the attention deficit theory, lack of central control & metarepresentation ?
Firth ( 1979)
what is Firth’s attention deficit theory ?
- suggests that schizo is due to a “faulty attention system”
- suggested that the conscious mind becomes overloaded, as schizophrenics have attention deficits
- provides explanation for hallucinations/ delusions ( positive symptoms)
what is an attention deficit
poor control over attention
( difficulty focusing & filtering out irrelevant stimuli)
what is lack of central control ?
inability to suppress automatic actions + speech
ie difficulty resisting urges
