Schizophrenia - Psychological Explanations for Schizophrenia Flashcards
What is family dysfunction?
The process within a family e.g cold parenting which can be risk factors for the development & maintenance of schizophrenia
Who spoke about the schizophrenogenic mother?
Fromm-Reichmann
What explanation is the schizophrenogenic mother linked to?
Psychodynamic
What is the schizophrenogenic mother?
A cold, rejecting & controlling mother that tends to create a tense family climate
How can the schizophrenogenic mother lead to being diagnosed with schizophrenia?
Leads to distrust -> develops into paranoid delusions (later develops into SZ)
Who came up with the double bind theory?
Bateson et al
What did Bateson et al say about the double bind theory?
Family climate is important in SZ development -> emphasised role of communication style in the family
How can someone develop SZ according to the double bind theory?
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)
What is expressed emotion?
The level of negative emotion that is expressed to the person with SZ by carers (often fam.)
What are the 3 elements of expressed emotion?
verbal criticism + violence
Hostility (+anger & rejection)
Emotional overinvolvement (+ needless self-sacrifice)
How can high levels of expressed emotion cause the development of SZ?
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))
What are the 3 cognitive explanations for the development of SZ?
Dysfunctional thinking
Meta representation dysfunction
central control dysfunction
What is dysfunctional thought processing?
Information processing that doesn’t represent reality accurately & produces undesirable consequences
Reduced thought processing in which area of the brain can cause the negative symptoms of SZ?
Ventral striatum
Reduced information processing in which area of the brain can cause hallucinations?
Temporal & cingulate gyri
Who came up with metarepresentation dysfunction?
Frith et al
What are the 2 kinds of dysfunctional thought processes identified by Frith et al?
Metarepresentation
Central control dysfunction
What is metarepresentation & what would happen if it is impaired?
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)
What is central control dysfunction?
Issues with the ability to supress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions
What negative symptom can be attributed to central control dysfunction?
Speech poverty
What is a strength of the family dysfunction explanation of SZ?
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
What are the limitations of the family dysfunction explanation of SZ?
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)
What is a strength of the cognitive explanations of SZ?
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
