S social psychological Flashcards
what is the first social psychological explanation
dysfunctional families
what did Fromm-Reichmann suggest
dysfunctional families
that the relationships that we have with our families might be the catalyst for the development of schizophrenia
what did Bateson propose
dysfunctional families
the symptoms we see in schizophrenics are a result of communication difficulties within the family, especially parent and child
explain conflicting messages
dysfunctional families
schizophrenia may develop where a child is repeatedly exposed to social interactions where there are two conflicting messages and the child doesn’t have the opportunity to ignore them or to properly respond to them
example of a conflicting message
dysfunctional families
if a father tells his young daughter ‘I’d love to hear what you did in school today’ whilst focusing on the TV and not really listening to the daughter, the daughter receives conflicting messages
explain the part of body language in conflicting messages
dysfunctional families
body language, tone of voice and facial expression can betray an individual’s true feelings. these non-verbal cues are known as paralanguage. the words the child hears might not match the paralanguage shown by parents
example of paralanguage
dysfunctional families
a mother may say to her child ‘do you want mummy to read you a bedtime story?’ the words said by the mother imply the mother wants to read to her child. however if the mother’s true feeling is ‘I don’t want to read you a story. I want you to go to bed so I can be alone as I don’t like spending time with you’ this will come across in her paralanguage
why does paralanguage causes conflict for the child
dysfunctional families
whatever the child’s actions, they cannot win. they are in a double bind
how does the double bind theory link to schizophrenia
dysfunctional families
children learn they have no idea how to respond in a reasonable way in conversation. they will grow up believing this is how normal relationships work and will struggle to establish normal relationships
what did Bateson et al believe about the double bind theory
dysfunctional families
that this eventually led to the manifestation of the symptoms of schizophrenia (hallucinations and delusions) as a means of escaping the contradictory demands of the double bind situation. can also lead to the child to respond with maladaptive thinking patterns which could later lead to delusions (persecutory) as the may believe people are out to get them
explain what Brown found
(expressed emotion)
dysfunctional families
investigated 156 men with schizophrenia after they had been discharged from hospital. he found that relapse was strongly connected with the types of home the men were discharged to. those who went to live with their parents or wives were more likely to relapse compared to men who lived in lodgings or with their siblings. he found a relationship between the amount of expressed emotion and the likelihood if relapse
what are the 3 components of expressed emotion
dysfunctional families
critical comments
hostility
emotional over-involvement
what are critical comments
dysfunctional families
combinations of hostile and emotional over-involvement. shows the disorder isn’t entirely in the patients control, still a negative criticism
example of critical comments
dysfunctional families
‘they are not following my advice and therefore not getting better. I know they can try and get better but they aren’t helping in any way’
explain hostility
dysfunctional families
negative attitude to the patient, family feel the disorder is controllable and the patient is choosing not to get better. family problems often blamed on the patient and family believe the cause of many of the families problem’s is the patients illness
explain emotional over-involvement
dysfunctional families
reflects behaviour where they are over-protective or self-sacrificing, excessive praise/blame. these family members who show high emotional involvement tend to be more intrusive. so overbearing the patient can no longer live with this kind of stress from pity, and falls back into their illness to cope
example of hostility
dysfunctional families
‘X is not really that ill. They are putting it on, they’re causing so many problems’
example of over-involvement
dysfunctional families
‘It is all my fault that X is ill. I’m trying everything I can possibly can to help but X isn’t getting better
briefly explain how social psychological explanations could be applied to MOM schizophrenia (5)
- the dysfunctional families’ explanation of schizophrenia suggests the disorder is caused by disturbed communication within the family home. therefore, it is suggested that a significant reduction in relapse rates can be achieved through family based interventions rather than working with just the individual with schizophrenia.
-Pharoah et al. in a review of 53 randomised control trials concluded that family intervention decreased both the frequency of relapse and reduced hospital admissions
-family based intervention could include:
1. increasing the ability of family members to solve and anticipate problems
2. reducing expressions of anger and guilt by family members
3. maintaining reasonable expectations for how the ill family member should perform and address any faulty communication
strength of the dysfunctional families explanation
supportive evidence available
Vaughn and Leff offered clear support for the role of expressed emotion in relapse rate. they found that 53% of those individuals with schizophrenia who had a high EE relative relapsed within 9 months, whereas only 12% of those with low EE relatives relapsed.
research to contradict Vaughn and Leffs research
dysfunctional families
not all research has supported EE as a predictor of relapse for schizophrenia. McCreadie and Phillips failed to find higher subsequent 6 and 12 month relapse rates among individuals with schizophrenia living in high EE homes
criticisms of the strength of the dysfunctional families explanations
need to question what causes the schizophrenia in the first place.EE cannot provide a complete explanation of schizophrenia as there is no evidence that EE can trigger schizophrenia in someone who has never had it before. therefore although EE may be a significant factor in the relapse of some individuals, it is not the only factor that determines relapse and doesn’t appear to be the onset of the condition. other explanations must be considered
weakness of the dysfunctional families explanation
findings have been inconclusive with regards the double bind theory, not all studies have found a significant difference in the quality of communication within families that have a member with schizophrenia
evidence to support the fact that findings have been inconclusive
dysfunctional families
Liem found that the communications offered in a structured task by the parents of 11 sons with schizophrenia were no more disordered than the communication offered by 11 parents of sons who did not have schizophrenia. he suggested that those studies that did find a difference in parental communications may actually just be detecting parents having to adjust their communication styles when dealing with a schizophrenic child. this suggests that the communication difficulties which the double bind theory is based on are really just an effect rather than the cause of schizophrenia
another weakness of the dysfunctional family explanation
determining what a double bind statement is is subjectiv. Ringuette and Kennedy had supposed experts in the double bind theory and non-experts make judgements about letters written to schizophrenics. the letters were either written by family members or hospital staff. results demonstrated the experts were no better at identifying double bind statements than the non-experts
what did Schuman find
weakness of dysfunctional family explanation
argued the confusion around defining what double bind statements are has impeded the research and provided little support to the theory. fair to argue that the evidence for the influence of double bind is conflicted. suggesting there is little consensus to what this communication entails and should be treated with caution
losing relevance in explaining schizophrenia
final weakness of dysfunctional family explanation (biggest challenge)
a;though schizophrenia may be due to communication difficulties within the family environment, it could also be the product of the families shared genes. Gottesman et al. looked at the incidence of schizophrenia in cousins, grandchildren, half-siblings, parents, siblings, MZ and DZ twins. as genetic similarity increased so did probability of both individuals having schizophrenia. if we apply the diathesis stress model, it could be genetics that predispose an individual to schizophrenia and family relationships may acts as a psycho-social trigger causing the onset of the condition. suggests a number of factors may be working together to cause schizophrenia and an interventionist approach is needed
