Psychological Explanations: the Family

Question 1

define the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 1

mothers of individuals who develop SZ, the implication being that the mother has induced the illness

Question 2

what is a SZG mother believed to be to cause SZ

Answer 2

cold, rejecting, and controlling

Question 3

what is the family climate like with a SZG mother and what does this lead to

Answer 3

• climate = tension & secrecy
• leads to distrust that later develops into paranoid delusions

Question 4

what is a double-bind hypothesis

Answer 4

an emotionally distressing dilemma in communication in which an individual receives 2 or more conflicting messages

Question 5

what does Bateson (1972) emphasise and what can’t the patient do

Answer 5

• emphasises the role of communication style within the family
• cannot express their feelings about the unfairness of the situation

Question 6

what is expressed emotion

Answer 6

where families persistently exhibit criticism, hostility and a general negative influence upon recovering SZ, who when returning to their families react to the expressed emotion by relapsing and experiencing positive symptoms,

Question 7

3 aspects of communication styles that characterise interactions in families with high expressed emotion

Answer 7

• verbal criticism of the patient
• hostility towards the patients
• emotional over-involvement

Question 8

How is high expressed emotion thought to be linked to symptom expression

Answer 8

high EE causes stress in the patient and is a primary explanation for relapse. however, it has also been suggested that it may be a source of stress that can trigger the onset of SZ in person who is already vulnerable due to their genetics

Question 9

explain the family dysfunction view of SZ

Answer 9

claim that SZ is caused by abnormal patterns of communication within the family and conflict within the family

Question 10

How does the family dysfunction perspective link to biological models

Answer 10

They only consider the effects of the environment and therefore side with the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate

Question 11

How does the family dysfunction perspective link to the diathesis-stress mode

Answer 11

where the diathesis may be biological (genetics, neural correlates, dopamine hypothesis) and the stress can be caused by expressed emotion, schizophrenogenic mother etc

Question 12

What is the modern view of the family dysfunction model

Answer 12

• theories have not been supported by scientific evidence but by case studies in clinical work
• Many modern psychiatrists do not support these views (Harrington 2012)

Question 13

What did the study by Read et al. (2005) show

Answer 13

• reviewed 46 studies of the child abuse and SZ
• concluded that 69% of female and 59% of male in-patients with SZ had a history of physical, sexual or both types of abuse in childhood
• Adults with insecure attachments to their primary carer are also more likely to have schizophrenia (Berry et al 2008)

Question 14

what problems might Read et al (2005) approach have

Answer 14

does not show that it is the family

Question 15

Outline evidence from Butzlaff & Hooley (1998)

Answer 15

showed using a meta-analysis of 27 studies that relapse into schizophrenia is significantly more likely in families that have issues with expressed emotion

Question 16

Outline evidence from Tienari (2004)

Answer 16

• studied the biological children of schizophrenic mothers who had been adopted
• found that 5.8% of those adopted into psychologically healthy families developed schizophrenia, compared to 36.8% of children raised in dysfunctional families
• suggests interpersonal family environment has a significant impact on the development of schizophrenia in genetically vulnerable people