Schizophrenia - Psychological Explanations for Schizophrenia

Question 1

What is family dysfunction?

Answer 1

The process within a family e.g cold parenting which can be risk factors for the development & maintenance of schizophrenia

Question 2

Who spoke about the schizophrenogenic mother?

Answer 2

Fromm-Reichmann

Question 3

What explanation is the schizophrenogenic mother linked to?

Answer 3

Psychodynamic

Question 4

What is the schizophrenogenic mother?

Answer 4

A cold, rejecting & controlling mother that tends to create a tense family climate

Question 5

How can the schizophrenogenic mother lead to being diagnosed with schizophrenia?

Answer 5

Leads to distrust -> develops into paranoid delusions (later develops into SZ)

Question 6

Who came up with the double bind theory?

Answer 6

Bateson et al

Question 7

What did Bateson et al say about the double bind theory?

Answer 7

Family climate is important in SZ development -> emphasised role of communication style in the family

Question 8

How can someone develop SZ according to the double bind theory?

Answer 8

The child finds themselves trapped in a situation where they fear wrongdoing & receive mixed messages what it is.
When child ‘gets it wrong’ they’re punished with withdrawal
Leaves the child with understanding that the world is confusing & dangerous -> can lead to disorganised thinking & paranoid delusions (JUST A RISK FACTOR)

Question 9

What is expressed emotion?

Answer 9

The level of negative emotion that is expressed to the person with SZ by carers (often fam.)

Question 10

What are the 3 elements of expressed emotion?

Answer 10

verbal criticism + violence
Hostility (+anger & rejection)
Emotional overinvolvement (+ needless self-sacrifice)

Question 11

How can high levels of expressed emotion cause the development of SZ?

Answer 11

Is a serious source of stress (primarily an explanation of the relapsation of an individual with SZ but can trigger onset in someone already vulnerable (diathesis-stress))

Question 12

What are the 3 cognitive explanations for the development of SZ?

Answer 12

Dysfunctional thinking
Meta representation dysfunction
central control dysfunction

Question 13

What is dysfunctional thought processing?

Answer 13

Information processing that doesn’t represent reality accurately & produces undesirable consequences

Question 14

Reduced thought processing in which area of the brain can cause the negative symptoms of SZ?

Answer 14

Ventral striatum

Question 15

Reduced information processing in which area of the brain can cause hallucinations?

Answer 15

Temporal & cingulate gyri

Question 16

Who came up with metarepresentation dysfunction?

Answer 16

Frith et al

Question 17

What are the 2 kinds of dysfunctional thought processes identified by Frith et al?

Answer 17

Metarepresentation
Central control dysfunction

Question 18

What is metarepresentation & what would happen if it is impaired?

Answer 18

the cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts & behaviour

if impaired -> we cannot recognise our own actions & thoughts as our own (can explain auditory hallucinations & delusions e.g. thought insertion)

Question 19

What is central control dysfunction?

Answer 19

Issues with the ability to supress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions

Question 20

What negative symptom can be attributed to central control dysfunction?

Answer 20

Speech poverty

Question 21

What is a strength of the family dysfunction explanation of SZ?

Answer 21

Research support -> Read et al -> found SZ adult more likley to be insecurely attached (c/d) + 69% women, 59% male have history of physical/sexual abuse

Strongly sugests family dysfunction makes ppl more vulnerable to SZ

Question 22

What are the limitations of the family dysfunction explanation of SZ?

Answer 22

Poor evidence -> no evidence of trad. schizophrenogenic mother (based on clinical observation of ppl with SZ & informal assessment of their mothers personalities

Parent-blaming -> research linking family dysfunction & SZ is socially sensitive (leads to parent blaming, particularly mothers)

Question 23

What is a strength of the cognitive explanations of SZ?

Answer 23

Research support for evidence of dysfunctional thought processing -> Stirling et al
- compared performance of range of cog. tasks in 30 SZ & 30 controls (included stroop task -> had to supress tendency to read words aloud) -> SZ took longer (2x then average) to name colours

shows cog processes in SZ people is impaired