S - Biological explanation for Schizophrenia

Question 1

What does the genetic explanation of schizophrenia suggest and what category is the disorder?

Answer 1

There is no one “schizophrenia gene” but a collection of gene locations that are associated with a higher risk of developing schizophrenia, meaning the disorder is polygenic

Question 2

What are the concordance rates for schizophrenia (genetic explanation)?

Answer 2

• The closer related the family member, the higher the concordance rate for schizophrenia; this is argued to be due to increased genetic similarity
• MZ twins have a 48% concordance rate

Question 3

What is the criticism of the concordance rates as a genetic explanation for schizophrenia?

Answer 3

MZ twins (identical twins) only had a 48% concordance rate for schizophrenia but share 100% of their genes. This means that other factors may play an influence such as environmental differences

Question 4

Neural correlates

Answer 4

Neural correlates are the variations in neural structure and bio chemistry that are correlated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia

Question 5

Dopamine hypothesis

Answer 5

• The dopamine hypothesis suggest that symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with too much or an imbalance of the dopamine neural-transmitter across the brain
• Low levels of dopamine are responsible for negative symptoms of schizophrenia whiles high levels of dopamine are responsible for positive symptoms of schizophrenia

Question 6

Supporting evidence for the dopamine hypothesis

Answer 6

In a meta-analysis, Leucht found that drug treatments that work via normalising dopamine levels were more effective than a placebo