Schizo - Individual - Cognitive Factors Flashcards
What does the cognitive factors approach view as the cause of schizophrenia
The cognitive approach views internal mental processes as the cause of our behaviour and thoughts.
In this approach, the brain can be seen as a computer, with internal mental processes acting as “software” Mental illness is therefore explained by someone having problems with these internal mental processes
The symptoms of schizophrenia could be explained through problems with the processes that govern perception, language, memory and attention.
How does Morrison explain positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
One of the most defining symptoms of schizophrenia is hallucinations, these are perceptions that are not real and can manifest in different forms such as auditory and visual halucionations
Morrison (1998) proposed that maladaptive thinking could explain why individuals experience auditory hallucinations. Morrison suggests that triggers such as stress, sleep deprivation and even certain drugs can lead to some individuals with schizophrenia to not only hear voices but hear them in a maladaptive way. This can result in individuals interpreting the voices inaccurately.
For example, a sleep deprived individual who is suffering from schizophrenia may believe that the thinking voice inside their head is the devil!
Negative, potentially harmful commands from these critical voices may result in the individual displaying behaviours such asself-harmandsocial withdrawal. These behaviours produce emotions such as sadness and shame, which reinforce the messages from the critical voices
How does Atention Deficit Theory explain positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Frith (1979) argued that schizophrenia was the result of abreakdown in the individuals thought filtering process.
Individuals with schizophrenia often have issues withattentionand havedifficulty filtering out irrelevant informationfrom their consciousness. Frith claims this could result in things in their environment (that would normally be filtered out as irrelevant) being interpreted as more significant than they really are.
Frith believed that it is thisinability to focusthat causes individuals with schizophrenia to give the impression ofdisorganised thinking and disorganised speech. This could also possibly explainhallucinationsanddelusions
How does Atention Deficit Theory explain NEGATIVE symptoms of schizophrenia?
In terms of explaining the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, the cognitive explanation relies heavily on the work of Beck (2008) and his idea of the cognitive triad. While the cognitive triad was initially used to help understand depression, Beck believes that it could also provide an explanation as to why individuals suffer from some of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
Beck proposed that an individual with schizophrenia possesses dysfunctional beliefs about themselves, their performance and their ability to experience pleasure. He also suggested they hold a cynical view of the future.
These dysfunctional beliefs, along with their mental filters only allowing in negative messages, can result
One strength of this theory
Strength: Application – There is successful application of cognitive therapy in the form of CBT, this therapy helps schizophrenics organise their thoughts in a rational way. For instance, CBT aims to challenge a patient’s perception of events by asking them to discuss the evidence for their beliefs, helping them to rationalise them. NICE suggested CBT be routinely offered to individuals with a recent onset of schizophrenic symptoms.
Another strength of this theory
Strength: Supporting Evidence – There is research evidence in Barch et al to support this explanation of schizophrenia.
In this study they conducted a stroop test on a group with and without schizophrenia and found that those with schizo took significantly longer and made more mistakes – this supports the cognitive explanation as they claim this is because their brains cannot filter out the information as effectively supporting Friths theory of defective filtering in schizophrenics.
Give a weakness of this theory
However, it could be considered reductionist to reduce a complex mental disease like schizophrenia to just brain circuit functioning as internal mental processes do not explain all the symptoms of schizophrenia. The approach also could be criticised as it mostly only explains the positive symptoms while the negative symptoms are not as effectively explained.
Give another weakness of this theory
Weakness: Lack of Cause and Effect
While the approach does explain the symptoms of the disorder such as dysfunctional thoughts causing hallucinations it never actually explains what’s the underlying cause of these dysfunctional thoughts. Aka, they explain the proximal cause (what causes the current symptom) but never the distal cause (the origin of the condition). This may suggest we should not use a cognitive explanation as the sole cause of schizophrenia.
