Psychological explanations of schizophrenia

Question 1

What is family dysfunction as a psychological explanation for schizophrenia?

Answer 1

There have been attempts to link Sz to childhood and adult experiences of living in a dysfunctional family

Question 2

What did Fromme-Reichmann (1948) propose?

Answer 2

Psychodynamic explanation of the schizophrenogenic mother

Question 3

What does schizophrenogenic mean?

Answer 3

Schizophrenia causing

Question 4

What is the schizophrenogenic mother explanation?

Answer 4

The mother is cold, rejecting and controlling and creates a family environment which is characterised by secrecy and tension

Question 5

How does what the schizophrenogenic mother does cause Sz in the child?

Answer 5

It leads to distrust and later paranoid delusions

Question 6

What did Bateson et al (1972) propose?

Answer 6

Double-bind theory

Question 7

What is the double bind theory?

Answer 7

• The child finds themselves in a situation where they believe they are doing something wrong but receive mixed messages about it is and feel unable to comment on the unfairness of this situation and seek clarification
• When they get it wrong, they are punished with the withdrawal of love

Question 8

In the double-bind theory, how does the withdrawal of love when the individual does something wrong result in schizophrenia?

Answer 8

• They understand the world as confusing and dangerous and this is reflected in the symptoms such as disorganised thinking or paranoid delusions

Question 9

What is expressed emotion?

Answer 9

The level of emotion in particular negative emotion expressed toward a patient by their carers

Question 10

What are the elements of expressed emotion?

Answer 10

• Verbal criticism of the patient accompanied by violence
• Hostility towards the patient, including anger and rejection
• Emotional over involvement in the life of the patient, including needless self-sacrifice

Question 11

What does expressed emotion cause?

Answer 11

Stress

Question 12

Why is stress triggering for Sz?

Answer 12

Some people are already genetically vulnerable

Question 13

What is the cognitive explanation for Sz?

Answer 13

• Disruption of normal thought processes

- Reduced processes can cause cognition to become impaired

Question 14

What did Firth et al (1992) identify?

Answer 14

Two types of dysfunctional thought

Question 15

What are the two types of dysfunctional thought which Firth et al identified?

Answer 15

Metarepresentation

Central cognition

Question 16

What is metarepresentation?

Answer 16

The cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour and allows us insight into our own intentions and goals and allows us to interpret the actions of others

Question 17

What would dysfunction of metarepresentation cause?

Answer 17

Disrupt our ability to recognise our own actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else

Question 18

What does dysfunction of metarepresentation explain?

Answer 18

Hallucinations of voices and delusions

Question 19

What is central cognition?

Answer 19

The cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions instead

Question 20

What could dysfunction of central cognition cause?

Answer 20

Disorganised speech and thought disorders

Question 21

In relation to dysfunction of central cognition, what do sufferers of Sz experience?

Answer 21

Derailment of thoughts and spoken sentences because each word triggers associations and the patient cannot suppress automatic responses to these

Question 22

What did Berry et al (2008) find? (supporting evidence for family dysfunction as a risk factor)

Answer 22

Adults with insecure attachments to their primary carer are more likely to be schizophrenic

Question 23

What did Read et al (2005) find?

Answer 23

They reviewed 46 studies of child abuse and schizophrenia and concluded that 69% of women in patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia had a history of physical abuse, sexual abuse or both
For men, the figure was 49%

Question 24

What is the issue with family dysfunction studies?

Answer 24

They rely on information about childhood being recalled after they have developed the symptoms
Creates validity issues
Prospective studies find some evidence linking family dysfunction to schizophrenia and the results are inconsistent

Question 25

What is the evidence like for the schizophrenogenic mother and the double-bind theory?

Answer 25

There is very little evidence

Based on clinical observations and early studies that looked at “crazy mothers”

Question 26

What is the issue with the schizophrenogenic mother explanation?

Answer 26

It has led to parent blaming

Question 27

What has lead to the decline of both the schizophrenogenic mother and double bind theory explanation?

Answer 27

Shift from hospital care to community care with emphasis on family support

Question 28

What did Stirling et al (2006) find?

Answer 28

Compared 30 patients with a diagnosis of Sz and 18 non-patient controls on a range of cognitive tests including the stroop test
Took patients twice as long to name the ink colours as the control group

Question 29

What are the issues with the dysfunctional information processing theory?

Answer 29

It shows a clear link but doesn’t tell us anything about the origins of Sz, it can explain proximal causes but not distal causes

Question 30

Why is the diathesis stress model good?

Answer 30

Takes into account biological and psychological factors

Question 31

What is direction of causality as an evaluative point?

Answer 31

It is unclear what causes what, including whether cognitive factors are a cause or a result of the neural correlates and abnormal neurotransmitter levels seen in schizophrenia