Schizophrenia- Interractionist evaluation

Question 1

Double whopper, strength

GENETIC VULNERABILITY AND TRIGGERS

Answer 1

– There is evidence to support the role of genetic vulnerability and stress in the development of schizophrenia.
– Tienari et al (2014) found that children who experienced an environment with high levels of criticism and low levels of empathy were more likely to develop schizophrenia, but only if there was a high genetic risk of schizophrenia.
– This suggests that both genetic vulnerability and family-related stress are important in the development of schizophrenia.
– As children who are genetically vulnerable to schizophrenia are more sensitive to parenting behaviour, this may mean that families who have a history of schizophrenia should receive education on how to change their behaviour to reduce the chance of parenting techniques triggering schizophrenia.

Question 2

Double whopper, strength,

PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY AND TRIGGERS

Answer 2

– There is evidence to support the role of psychological vulnerability and stress in the development of schizophrenia.
– Houston et al (2008) found that childhood sexual trauma emerged as a vulnerability factor whilst cannabis use was a trigger.
– This shows that both biological and psychological factors can be viewed as a diathesis for schizophrenia.
– This means that older versions of the diathesis stress model which believed that the diathesis had to be biological and the stressor had to be psychological were too simplistic.

Question 3

Double whopper, limitation

LACK OF UNDERSTANDING

Answer 3

– We do not fully understand how the combination of a vulnerability and stress can lead to schizophrenia.
– There is evidence to suggest that there is a link between the two but there is no explanation of how the symptoms of schizophrenia are produced.
– This reduces the validity of the explanation as we cannot use the explanation to say how the two cause schizophrenia.
– This means that the approach is only a description that seems plausible and cannot be used to inform treatment

Question 4

Double whopper, strength

HOLISTIC

Answer 4

– The interactionist explanation of schizophrenia is a more holistic explanation.
-It considers both biological and psychological factors such as genetics, trauma and smoking habits that can be implicated in the development of schizophrenia.
– This is good as it identifies that a wide range of factors could be involved in the illness rather than trying to simplify explanations down to genetics or maladaptive thoughts.
– Therefore, because schizophrenia is such a complex disorder considering a number of levels of explanation from biological to psychological to cultural may be regarded as more appropriate when trying to explain the illness.