Schizophrenia - Psychological Explanations

Question 1

What are 2 psychological explanations for SZ

Answer 1

Family dysfunction

Cognitive explanations

Question 2

What are three points in family dysfunction

Answer 2

SZ mothers
Double-blind theory
Expressed emotion

Question 3

explain SZ mothers using a study

Answer 3

Fromm-Reichmanns (1948) psychodynamic explanation based on patients early experiences of SZ mothers these mothers are cold, rejecting and controlling and create a family climate of tension and secrecy which leads to distrust and paranoid delusions and SZ

Question 4

Explain double blind theory using a study

Answer 4

Bateson et al (1972) described how a child may be regularly trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing but receive conflicting messages about what counts as wrong and cannot express their feelings about the unfairness

when they get it wrong they are punished by withdraw of love they learn the world is confusing and dangerous leading to delusions and disorganised thinking

Question 5

Explain expressed emotion as a point in family dysfunction

Answer 5

Expressed emotion is the level of emotion (mainly -) expressed towards the SZ patient and includes:

• verbal criticism of the patient
• hostility towards them
• emotional over-involvement in their life

High levels of EE cause stress in the patient a primary explanation for relapse in patients with SZ

Question 6

What are three points in cognitive explanations

Answer 6

dysfunctional thought processing
metarepresentation leads to hallucinations
Dysfunction of central control leads to speech poverty

Question 7

Explain dysfunctional thought processing as an AO1 point in cognitive explanations

Answer 7

Lower levels of information processing in some areas of the brain suggest cognition is impaired

e.g. reduced processing in the ventral striatum is associated with negative symptoms

Question 8

Explain metarepresentation leads to hallucinations as an AO1 point in cognitive explanations

Answer 8

metarepresentation = cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour
This dysfunction disrupts our ability to recognise our thoughts as our own - could lead to hallucinations or delusions

Question 9

Explain dysfunction of central control leads to speech poverty as an AO1 point in cognitive explanations using a study

Answer 9

Frith et al (1992) also identified dysfunction of central control as a way to explain speech poverty - central control being the cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while perform deliberate actions

People with SZ experience derailment of thoughts + spoken sentences because each word triggers automatic associations that they cannot suppress

Question 10

Give a strength of psychological explanations for SZ

Answer 10

support for different information processing

Question 11

Explain support for different information processing as a strength of psychological explanations for SZ using a study

Answer 11

stirling et al (2006)

Question 12

What did stirling et al (2006) do

Answer 12

compared 30 patients with SZ with 18 non-patients (control) on cognitive tasks e.g. in the Stroop Test participants had to name the ink colour of colour words

Question 13

What did stirling et al (2006) find

Answer 13

Patients took over twice as long to suppress the impulse to read the word and to name the ink colour instead

Question 14

What does stirling et al (2006) study show and counter argument

Answer 14

This supports Frith’s theory of central control dysfunction

However it is not clear whether these faulty cognitions are merely the proximal cause ( cause of the symptoms) or the underlying distal case (origins of the disorder)

Question 15

What are 4 limitations of psychological explanations of SZ

Answer 15

evidence for family dysfunction is often retrospective

evidence for family based explanation is weak

biological factors are sometimes overlooked

cognitive expainaton - direction of causality

Question 16

Explain evidence for family dysfunction is often retrospective using a study and not and what does this mean as a limitation

Answer 16

Read et al (2005)
most evidence Is based about childhood experiences gathered after the diagnosis and the symptoms may have distorted the patients recall of their childhood experiences.

this means it creates a problem with the validity of the evidence

Question 17

What did Read et al (2005) do and conclude

Answer 17

reviewed 42 studies and concluded that 69% of all adult female inpatients with SZ had a history and or sexual abuse in childhood

Question 18

Explain evidence for family based explanation is weak as a limitation

Answer 18

Poor childhood experiences may be associated with SZ but little evidence to support the importance of SZ,EE or double blind. These theories are mainly based on clinical observations and open to interpretation
And led to historical blaming of parents already suffering over their child’s symptoms. These issues undermine the appropriateness and credibility of family-based explanation

Question 19

Explain biological factors are sometimes overlooked as a limitation of the psychological explanation

Answer 19

they ignore the validity of the biological factors however we can view this in terms of the diathesis stress model where diathesis may be psychological or biological

Question 20

Explain direction of causality as a limitation

Answer 20

it doesn’t explain the underlying origin of the condition such as whether cognitive factors are a cause or result go the neural correlates and abnormal neurotransmitter levels in SZ