Schizophrenia

Question 1

Criterion validity

Answer 1

Involves seeing whether different procedures used to assess the same individuals arrive at the same diagnosis
Cheniaux et al (2009) had two psychiatrists independently assess the same 100 clients. 68 were diagnosed with schizophrenia with ICD and 39 with DSM
This means that schizophrenia is either over or under diagnosed, suggesting the criterion validity is low

Question 2

Co-morbidity

Answer 2

If conditions often co-occur then they might be a single condition. Schizophrenia is often diagnosed with other conditions
Buckley et al (2009) concluded that schizophrenia is co-morbid with depression (50% of cases), substance abuse (47%) or OCD (23%). This suggests that schizophrenia may not exist as a distinct condition

Question 3

Gender bias

Answer 3

Men were diagnosed with schizophrenia more often than women, in a ratio of 1:4:1 (Fischer and Buchanan 2017).
This could be because men are more genetically vulnerable, or women have better social support, masking symptoms
This means that some women with schizophrenia aren’t diagnosed so miss out on helpful treatment

Question 4

Culture bias

Answer 4

Some symptoms eg hearing voices, are accepted in some cultures eg Afro-Caribbean societies ‘hear voices’ from their ancestors
Afro-Caribbean British men are up to 10 times more likely to receive a diagnosis as White British men, probably due to over interpretation of symptoms by UK psychiatrists
This means that Afro-Caribbean men living in the UK appear to be discriminated against by a culturally biased diagnostic system

Question 5

Symptom overlap

Answer 5

There is an overlap between the symptoms of schizophrenia and other conditions eg both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder involve delusions and abolition
Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may be the same condition. Schizophrenia is hard to distinguish from bipolar disorder
This means that schizophrenia may not exist as a condition and if it does, it’s hard to diagnose