SCHIZOPHRENIA Flashcards
Briefly explain Johnson et al study (1997)
Conducted research on three Swedish triplets who all had schizophrenia
-> found a genetic abnormality on the 15p gene
Briefly explain Gottesman et al study (1991)
Meta analysis of monozygous & dizygous twin studies
-> found a higher concordance rate for schizophrenia amongst MZ twin (48%) vs DZ twins (17%)
-> suggest that there is a genetic element to schizophrenia
-> however schizophrenia can’t just be caused by genetics, otherwise concordance rate would be 100% in MZ twins
Briefly explain Tienari et al study
Adoption studies provide support for genetic basis of schizophrenia
-> found that adoptees had a higher risk of developing schizophrenia if they had a biological mother with schizophrenia
Briefly explain the Ripke et al (2014) study
Carries out a large scale study comparing the genetic makeup of schizophrenia patients with controls
-> found that 108 genes are associated with increased risk of schizophrenia and some of these included genes coding for dopamine (supports dopamine hypothesis)
Briefly explain the Curran et al (2004) study
Found that when a non schizophrenic person takes an amphetamine (increase dopamine levels in the brain) they experience schizophrenic-type symptoms
-> supports theory of hypodopaminergia
Briefly explain the Allen et al study (2007)
Compared brain scans of schizophrenic patients suffering with auditory hallucinations with a control group
-> got participants to carry out an auditory task whilst having brain scans
-> schizophrenic patients had lower activation levels in superior temporal gyrus when completing auditory tasks, they also made more errors
-> supports neural correlate theory that superior temporal gyrus is associated with hallucinations
Briefly explain Fromm Reichmans theory
Proposed the schizophregenic mother theory that a cold, negative, toxic mother is a major contributor in the onset of schizophrenia
-> creates a rejecting family environment for child
What theory did Bateson propose?
The double bind theory:
- no matter what the child does, they can’t win e.g child is yelled at when they don’t tidy their room, but when they do tidy their room, they’re told they are wasting time
-> creates paranoia and disorganised thoughts ‘am I good enough’
-> ignores genetics & neural correlates and suggests that mother is all to blame
- diathesis stress might be better explanation
- also fills gap that not only genetics causes schizophrenia
Briefly describe the Thornley et al study
Chlorpromazine was associated with better functioning and symptom reduction than placebos
-> supports that drugs do have positive effect on schizophrenia patients
- large scale study (1000 ppt)
Compare typical and atypical antipsychotics
Typical:
e.g chlorpromazine (older)
- dopamine antagonist -> blocks dopamine receptors in synapse so dopamine can’t be absorbed by post synaptic neurone
- helps positive symptoms e.g -> increased levels of dopamine in sub cortex causes hallucinations, blocking dopamine can help reduce this
Atypical:
e.g clozapine or risperidone (newer), fewer side effects
clozapine blocks action of dopamine AND serotonin AND glutamate
-> helps improve symptoms but also improve mood and cognitive function
risperidone binds to dopamine and serotonin receptors more strongly than clozapine
-> lower dosage but still just as effective
Briefly explain Jahaur study
Analysed 34 study’s -> CBT has improvement on positive and negative symptoms
-> not a huge effect though
Briefly explain Pharoah et al study
Reviewed 53 study’s looking into family therapy
- mixed effect:
-> reduced anger and guilt, reduced stress for family members caring for relative with SZ
-> increases patient willingness to go on medication
-> not much improvement to employment or living independently
-> family may report improvement because they want to feel themselves like the situation is improvement, therapy may not actually be useful
Explain the Meehl and Read et al propositions to how SZ is developed
Meehl originally proposed that there is a schizogene (genetics) combined with a trigger (schizophregenic mother)
Read et al proposed that childhood trauma alters developing brain leaving a person vulnerable to SZ, then triggered by an environmental factor eg. Cannabis
What is the interactionist approach?
Suggest that all biological, societal and psychological approaches contribute to whether a person develops schizophrenia
Briefly explain the Tarrier et al study
315 schizophrenic patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions:
- medication + CBT
- medication + counselling
- control group
The combinations of treatment were most effecting, supporting interactionist approach
