Schizophrenia - psychological explanations

Question 1

What are psychological explanations for schizophrenia mainly based on

Answer 1

Upbringing and the importance of childhood trauma

Question 2

What are the 2 main psychological explanations for schizophrenia

Answer 2

Family dysfunctions, cognitive explanation

Question 3

What falls under the family dysfunction explanation for schizophrenia

Answer 3

Schizophrenogenic mother, double bind hypothesis, high expressed emotion

Question 4

What falls under the cognitive explanation for schizophrenia

Answer 4

Dysfunction in the central monitoring system, supervisory attention system, and insight/ergocentric bias

Question 5

What is family dysfunction and what does it emphasise

Answer 5

Emphasise the importance of childhood upbringing, particularly trauma. Show importance of how maladaptive family relationships and poor communication can contribute to SZ development

Question 6

What contributes to family disfunction

Answer 6

Family Schism - constant arguing
Family Skew - one dysfunctional parent

Question 7

What is a schizophrenogenic mother in relation to family dysfunction

Answer 7

Mother who is domineering, insensitive, controlling, overprotective, and rejecting. May micromanage children and reject independence, causing stress and psychotic thinking

Question 8

What researcher is associated with the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 8

Fromm-Reichmann (1948)

Question 9

What is the double bind hypothesis in relation to family dysfunction

Answer 9

Contradictory communication, e.g where mother tells child she loves them, but may turn her head away in disgust. Child receives conflicting messages, so cannot develop a coherent construction of reality - paranoia and disorganised thinking

Question 10

What researcher is associated with the double bind hypothesis

Answer 10

Bateson et al. (1956)

Question 11

What is high expressed emotion in relation to family dysfunction

Answer 11

High levels of emotion in a family, concern or hostility towards patient

Question 12

What researcher is associated with high expressed emotion

Answer 12

Linszen et al. (1983)

Question 13

What did Linszen et al find (EE)

Answer 13

Patients returning to high EE household are 4x more likely to relapse than those with low EE families

Question 14

What study was conducted by Lidz as a research support evaluation point

Answer 14

Looked at cases of 50 SZ patients. 90% had seriously disturbed families, 60% had one parent with a serious personality disorder, and often skewed marriages (1 dominant)

Question 15

What is dysfunctional thought processing in relation to cognitive explanations

Answer 15

Role of faulty information / thought processing. Suggests symptoms of SZ are due to certain cognitive deficits. Comes in 3 ways

Question 16

What are the 3 ways for dysfunctional thought processing to occur in relation to the cognitive explanations

Answer 16

Dysfunction in the central monitoring system, supervisory attention system, and within insight / egocentric bias

Question 17

What is dysfunction in the central monitoring system in relation to the cognitive explanations

Answer 17

Labels actions and thoughts as ‘mine’. Explains + symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions.

Question 18

What is dysfunction in the supervisory attention system in relation to the cognitive explanations

Answer 18

Responsible for generating self initiated actions. Associated with - symptoms such as flat effect, speech poverty and avolition

Question 19

What is dysfunction within insight / egocentric bias in relation to the cognitive explanations

Answer 19

Tend to believe everything relates to them, so jump to false conclusions, e.g muffled voices = peoples criticisms. Leads to delusions of grandeur