S social psychological

Question 1

what is the first social psychological explanation

Answer 1

dysfunctional families

Question 2

what did Fromm-Reichmann suggest

dysfunctional families

Answer 2

that the relationships that we have with our families might be the catalyst for the development of schizophrenia

Question 3

what did Bateson propose

dysfunctional families

Answer 3

the symptoms we see in schizophrenics are a result of communication difficulties within the family, especially parent and child

Question 4

explain conflicting messages

dysfunctional families

Answer 4

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

Question 5

example of a conflicting message

dysfunctional families

Answer 5

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

Question 6

explain the part of body language in conflicting messages

dysfunctional families

Answer 6

body language, tone of voice and facial expression can portray 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

Question 7

example of paralanguage

dysfunctional families

Answer 7

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

Question 8

why does paralanguage causes conflict for the child

dysfunctional families

Answer 8

whatever the child’s actions, they cannot win. they are in a double bind

Question 9

how does the double bind theory link to schizophrenia

dysfunctional families

Answer 9

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

Question 10

what did Bateson et al believe about the double bind theory

dysfunctional families

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

explain what Brown found
(expressed emotion)

dysfunctional families

Answer 11

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

Question 12

what are the 3 components of expressed emotion

dysfunctional families

Answer 12

critical comments
hostility
emotional over-involvement

Question 13

what are critical comments

dysfunctional families

Answer 13

combinations of hostile and emotional over-involvement.

Question 14

example of critical comments

dysfunctional families

Answer 14

‘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’

Question 15

explain hostility

dysfunctional families

Answer 15

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 their illness

Question 16

explain emotional over-involvement

dysfunctional families

Answer 16

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

Question 16

example of hostility

dysfunctional families

Answer 16

‘X is not really that ill. They are putting it on, they’re causing so many problems’

Question 17

example of over-involvement

dysfunctional families

Answer 17

‘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

Question 18

briefly explain how social psychological explanations could be applied to MOM schizophrenia (5)

Answer 18

• 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.
  -in a review of 53 randomised control trials concluded that family intervention decreased both the frequency of relapse and reduced hospital admissions (Pharoah et al.)
  -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 behave and address any faulty communication

Question 19

strength of the dysfunctional families explanation

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

research to contradict Vaughn and Leffs research

dysfunctional families

Answer 20

not all research has supported EE as a predictor of relapse for schizophrenia. McCreadie and Phillips failed to find higher 6 and 12 month relapse rates among individuals with schizophrenia living in high EE homes

Question 21

weakness of the dysfunctional families explanation

Answer 21

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

Question 22

evidence to support the fact that findings have been inconclusive

dysfunctional families

Answer 22

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 explanation is based on are really just an effect rather than the cause of schizophrenia

Question 23

another weakness of the dysfunctional family explanation

Answer 23

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. results demonstrated the experts were no better at identifying double bind statements than the non-experts

Question 24

what did Schuman find weakness of dysfunctional family explanation

Answer 24

schuman argued that the inability to define a double-bind theory provides little support to the explanation, suggesting that the explanaiton should be treated with caution as it loses relevance in explaining schizophrenia.

Question 25

final weakness of dysfunctional family explanation (biggest challenge)

Answer 25

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 interactionist approach is needed

Question 26

second SP MOM schizophrenia

Answer 26

sociocultural factors

Question 27

urbanicity what is it sociocultural factors

Answer 27

since 1939 it has been apparent that there is a higher prevalence of schizophrenia in people living in urban areas compared with rural areas

Question 28

Faris and Dunham sociocultural factors

Answer 28

were amongst the first to discover this relationship. found that not only was there a higher incidence of schizophrenia in the densely populated centre of the city rather than in the less densely populated areas. they also found that the highest levels of schizophrenia were in the areas that had a high level of ethnic conflict and a high degree of social mobility

Question 29

research by van Os et al. sociocultural factors

Answer 29

continues to show a higher incidence of schizophrenia in people born and raised in urban areas

Question 30

social isolation sociocultural factors

Answer 30

another theory explains schizophrenia being related to social isolation.

Question 31

social isolation/ link to schizophrenia sociocultural factors

Answer 31

schizophrenics are often socially isolated from others, they have few friends, may be estranged from family and likely to live alone. the isolation may also be self-imposed.

Question 32

what did Faris suggest sociocultural factors

Answer 32

that the schizophrenic find interaction with others to be stressful and confusing, so they withdraw from society. this self-imposed isolation leads to the absence of corrective feedback and individuals increasingly adopt strange and socially unacceptable behaviours.

Question 33

Jones et al. sociocultural factors

Answer 33

reported findings from a longitudinal study of 5,362 people born in a specific week, childhood data was gathered and between the ages of 16 and 43 years, 30 cases of schizophrenia were diagnosed. those diagnosed with schizophrenia were more likely to show solitary play preference at ages 4 and 6, and at age 13 were more likely to rate themselves as less socially confident. suggesting the isolation begins very early and schizophrenia may stem from early years of childhood.

Question 34

strength of the sociocultural explanation

Answer 34

may be extremely worthwhile to consider social isolation and its links to schizophrenia as a means of tackling and treating the condition. social isolation may lend to early intervention. interventions can be put in place to help develop the social skills of children who are isolated in order to reduce the risk of schizophrenia. this suggests that there are practical applications that come with a social isolation based theory that could reduce the level of suffering experienced by real people

Question 35

weakness of the sociocultural explanation

Answer 35

there is a need to consider the cause and effect issue regarding the sociocultural explanation of schizophrenia. unclear whether an urban environment lead to greater risk of schizophrenia or does having schizophrenia mean you are more likely to live in an urban area. therefore there is a false impression of urbanicity being a cause of schizophrenia whereas it may equally be an effect.

Question 36

link between urbanicity and schizophrenia weakness of sociocultural explanation

Answer 36

Penderson and Mortensen report that those individuals who had a high risk of psychotic disorders reduced the likelihood of developing schizophrenia if they moved to a rural area. this implies we may not be able to say that living in an urban environment causes schizophrenia but there does seem to be enough research in place that there is a link between urbanicity and schizophrenia.