Schiz- psych explanations Flashcards
What is a schizophrenegenic mother
A mother who is domineering, insensitive, controlling, overprotective as well as rejecting. This type of mother may micromanage her kids and refuse to acknowledge their independence which sets up lines of faulty communication between her and the child -contributing to symptoms of schiz in a/hood. This can create excessive stress that could trigger psychotic thinking e.g. paranoia and develop into SCHIZ in adulthood.In the 1970’s this theory was broadened to include how the father and entire family could have schizophrenogenic tendencies.
Who came up with the Schizophrenogenic mother
Fromm-Reichmann
What may a schizophrenogenic mother do to her children
Micromanage her kids and refuse to acknowledge their independence
What is a possible cause on the child of a schizophrenogenic mother
May sets up lines of faulty communication between her and the child -contributing to symptoms of schiz in a/hood. This can create excessive stress that could trigger psychotic thinking e.g. paranoia and develop into SCHIZ in adulthood.
Who came up with the double-bind hypothesis
Bateson
what did the double-bind hypothesis focus on
contradictory communication
What happen when the child receives conflicting messages (double-bind hypothesis)
-Child becomes confused and suspicious and cannot develop an internally coherent construction of reality.-This may contribute to the development of schizophrenia in early adulthood, through paranoia and disorganised thinking.
What approach claims that: Symptoms of schizophrenia are due to specific “cognitive deficits’’ (impaired thought processes).
Cognitive
To explain schizophrenia, the cognitive approach emphasises the role of _________
faulty information processing
To explain schizophrenia, the cognitive approach also claims many patients suffering from schizophrenia have ___________
dysfunctional thought processes.
What is meta-representation
This is the ability to reflect upon thoughts, behaviours and feelings that gives us the sense of self-awareness.
Cognitive psychology claims schizophrenia sufferers have problems with a high-level cognitive process called _________
meta-representation.
What does the central monitoring system do
Typically, this ‘process’ labels & recognises actions and thoughts as ‘being done by me’ or ‘mine’.
What could a malfunction in the central monitoring system explain
Positive symptoms of SZ
What does the Supervisory Attention System do
Typically this ‘process’ responsible for generating self-initiated actions.
What could an issue with someone’s supervisory attention system cause
Negative symptoms of SZ
What does an egocentric bias cause in SZ patients
believe everything relates to them specifically, so they jump to false conclusions
What could an egocentric bias lead to in SZ patientsAnd why
delusions of grandeur because they believe they are central to all events going on around them and are therefore the most important person on the planet.
Evaluating psychological explanations
-Evidence from Bentall, cognitive explanation
P- There is evidence that supports the role of cognitive dysfunction being linked to Schiz:
E- BENTALL 1991Asked participants to either generate category items themselves (e.g. animals beginning with the letter B) or read out category items. One week later, participants were asked whether they had generated the words i) themselves,ii) read them, or iii) whether they were new.
E- Results showed schiz participants with hallucinations performed worse (i.e. were unable to identify the source of the words); than schiz patients without hallucinations and both groups performed worse that non- schiz controls
L- Hence, this research undelines the role of cognition in schiz.
What was Bentall’s method
Asked participants to either generate category items themselves (e.g. animals beginning with the letter B) or read out category items. One week later, participants were asked whether they had generated the words i) themselves,ii) read them, or iii) whether they were new.
After a week participants from Bentall’s study were asked three questions about how the words were generated
What were they
whether they had generated the words: i) themselves,ii) read them, or iii) whether they were new.
What did Bentall’s results show
schiz participants with hallucinations performed worse (i.e. were unable to identify the source of the words); than schiz patients without hallucinations and both groups performed worse that non- schiz controls
Which group performed worse in Bentall’s experiment
Sz patients with hallucinations
Evaluating psychological explanation
- cause and effect issue, cognitive explanation
P- Like other explanations the cognitive account of schizophrenia suffers from a cause and effect issue.
E- Although cognitive deficits are rife with schizophrenia - these may well be the effect of schiz as opposed to a causal factor.
E-In fact both cognitive deficits and schiz could be caused by another factor completely e.g. high dopamine or urban living.
L-This implies, dysfunctional thought processes may simply be a manifestation of schiz as opposed to an instigating factor
P- Like other explanations the cognitive account of schizophrenia suffers from a cause and effect issue. E- Although cognitive deficits are rife with schizophrenia - these may well be the effect of schiz as opposed to a causal factor. E-In fact both cognitive deficits and schiz could be caused by another factor completely e.g. high dopamine or urban livingL- ______________
This implies, dysfunctional thought processes may simply be a manifestation of schiz as opposed to an instigating factor
Evaluating psychological explanation
- practical applications,
P- This explanation has been practically applied to help those suffering from schizophrenia
E- CBT aims to challenge and change the cognitive deficits of patients with schiz. and alter their behaviour simultaneously through developing more rational constructive ways of thinking and functioning.
E- This has been shown to be very effective with many patients with schiz
L- This implies …the cognitive dysfunctional explanation of schiz has been very useful to the 1% of the population that are suffering from schizophrenia
Evaluation
-alternative explanations, family dysfunction
Alternative explanations (dopamine hypothesis) more scientific and credible
Dysfunctional family - hard to objectively measure (childhood and unconscious mind)
Dopamine hypothesis - PET scans / cerebrospinal fluid
May be redundant as more trustworthy explanations are available
Evaluation
- Lidz, family dysfunction
P- research to support from Lidz, Looked at the cases of 50 schizophrenic patients and investigated their family backgrounds.
E- Forty-five (90%) were found to have seriously disturbed families. 60% of the patients had one or both parents with a serious personality disorder. Parental marriages were typically characterised by one dominant and one submissive parent (skewed families). Parents frequently made considerable emotional demands on their kids.
L- Shows support for the family dysfunction explanation
Evaluation,
- Cause and effect, family dysfunction
P- Difficulty establishing cause and effect
E- Child with MH concerns: normal parental response - excessive concern and involvement
E- High EE may be response to child’s distress, not a contributing factor
L- Family behaviour may be a response, not a cause
Evaluation,
- Scientific, cognitive explanation
P- Praised for being able to link physio and psycho aspects together
E- Cognitive neuroscience links brain and information processing together to explain behaviour
E- E.g., damage to hippocampus (physio) linked to memory deficits (psycho)
L- More comprehensive account of SZ
Evaluation,
- Practical application, cognitive explanation
P- Practical applications
E- CBT is very effective - challenge and change cognitive deficits of patients w/ SZ
E- Helps develop more rational and constructive ways of thinking and functioning
L- Very useful to the 1% of the population with SZ
