Schizophrenia 3 | Psychological explanations for schizophrenia Flashcards
AO1 What is the Double Bind Theory in relation to schizophrenia
The Double Bind Theory proposed by Bateson et al suggests that children who are repeatedly exposed to contradictory messages from caregivers may develop confusion about reality increasing their risk of schizophrenia
AO1 What is meant by a schizophrenogenic mother
Fromm-Reichmann described the schizophrenogenic mother as cold controlling and rejecting contributing to the development of schizophrenia in her child
AO1 What is meant by Expressed Emotion (EE) in families
Expressed Emotion refers to high levels of criticism hostility and emotional over-involvement by family members which can increase relapse risk in schizophrenia patients
AO1 What is meant by dysfunctional thought processing in schizophrenia
Dysfunctional thought processing refers to cognitive impairments such as poor attention and faulty information processing believed to contribute to symptoms of schizophrenia
AO1 What did Frith propose about cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia
Frith proposed that schizophrenia involves deficits in metarepresentation meaning patients struggle to recognise their thoughts as their own leading to delusions and hallucinations
AO1 What evidence from Baruch et al supports cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia
Research using the Stroop test by Barch et al found that schizophrenia patients show impaired selective attention supporting the idea of dysfunctional information processing
AO3 What is a strength of the Double Bind Theory as an explanation for schizophrenia
Research supports the idea that contradictory family communication may contribute to schizophrenia by impairing cognitive development and increasing stress though it is retrospective and not all exposed individuals develop schizophrenia
AO3 What is a criticism of the schizophrenogenic mother hypothesis
The theory is based on unscientific psychodynamic ideas lacks empirical support and is socially sensitive as it blames mothers contributing to stigma and ignores biological factors
AO3 Why is the family dysfunction explanation criticised
It is correlational not causal and places blame on families rather than considering a more holistic model involving biological predisposition
AO3 What is a strength of the cognitive explanation for schizophrenia
Cognitive explanations are supported by research such as Frith and Barch et al which show that cognitive deficits like attention problems are linked to positive symptoms like delusions
AO3 What is a limitation of the cognitive explanation for schizophrenia
It only describes how symptoms occur without explaining why cognitive deficits develop suggesting it is more descriptive than explanatory
AO3 How does the interactionist approach provide a better explanation for schizophrenia
The diathesis-stress model integrates biological and environmental factors explaining why some people with vulnerabilities develop schizophrenia and others do not
AO3 What evidence supports the diathesis-stress model of schizophrenia
Tienari et al found that individuals with a genetic predisposition were more likely to develop schizophrenia if raised in high stress families supporting the interaction between genes and environment
