Schizophrenia - Social Psychology Explanation: Dysfunctional Families Flashcards
What are the 2 components of dysfunctional families explanation
- double bind theory
- Expressed emotion
Describe ‘Double bind theory’
- Gregory Bateson (1956) = SZ is a result of communication difficulties between child and parent
- SZ may develop when a child is repeatedly exposed to situations where there’s a conflicting messages (i.e. the verbal content doesn’t match the nonverbal content or meta communication) = child can’t meta communicate = risk factor for SZ
- Batesmen says that long exposure to conflicting messages —> child doesn’t learn to understand world correctly —> starts perceiving the world as a contradiction to itself —> unable to discriminate between info from environment ad the perception the child has of the world —> they’ve internalised the double bind situation and it eventually manifests itself as symptoms
- therefore they experience hallucinations and delusion as a means of escaping the contradictory demands of the double bind family situation
Describe ‘Expressed emotion’
- George Brown joined the MRCSP in London 1956. At the time, patients were given chlorpromazine to treat SZ. When the patient was stable = released back to home environment. But most were readmitted not long (relapse of symptoms)
- He investigated 156 men with SZ after being discharged, found that relapse was strongly connected to who they went home to. If discharged to parents/wives = more likely to relapse. If discharged to sibling/lodging with no-one else there = less likely
- So he conducted interviews with wives + parents = found a relationship between amount of expressed emotion (EE) in the home environment and likelihood of relapse. Classing those as high in EE or low in EE. Therefore 5 components of EE
1) critical comments - high EE = because they don’t appreciate the behaviour is attributed to being SZ = were more critical about the SZ’s behaviour
- Low EE = they recognised the behaviour is attributed to mental illness = less critical about the behaviour
2) Hostility - found only in high EE = unmanageable anger or irritation and rejecting the SZ patient = makes relapse more likely
3) Emotional over involvement - found only in high EE = had extreme levels of happiness and sadness, excessive self sacrifice and extremely overprotective behaviour = lead to over-involved in emotions resulting in high EE caregiver
4) Warmth - only in low EE = caregiver had warmth through their vocal qualities and behaviours (like smiling) and empathy = less likely to relapse
5) Positive regard - only in low EE = said positive, supportive and appreciative statements about the SZ = less likely to relapse
What is the 2 supporting researches for double bind theory
- Berger (1965)
- Mischler and Waller (1968)
Describe how Berger (1965) supports double bind theory
- he interviewed SZ and found that they had a higher recall of double bind statements by their mothers than non-schizophrenics
- indicates the vital relationship between parent and child that can play a role in SZ
Describe how Mischler and Waller (1968) supports double bind theory
- found that mothers talking to their SZ daughters were rather ‘aloof and unresponsive’
- suggests that these mothers are showing meta communication difficulties
What is the 2 supporting researches for Expressed emotion
- Kavanagh (1992)
- Vaughn and Leff (1976)
Describe how Kavanagh (1992) supports expressed emotion
- found that SZs in families with high EE were 4x more likely to relapse compared with those who live with low EE
- suggests that when subjected to criticism and hostility —> increases the likelihood of SZ
Describe how Vaugh and Leff (1976) supports expressed emotion
- found 53% of those with high EE relatives relapsed within 9 moths, whereas 12% with low EE relatives relapsed
- suggests that high EE is strongly linked to SZ
When evaluating this explanation, what do you talk about?
- Reductionist: weakness
- Usefulness: strength
- unscientific: weakness
Evaluate the explanation for being reductionist
P: One weakness of the dysfunctional families is that it’s reductionist becasue it overlooks biological factors and focuses on;y on social factors like double bind statements
E: Gottesman et al found that as genetic similarity increased, so did the probability of both individuals having schizophrenia. For MZ twins it was 48% whereas it is only 1% in the general population
T: This suggests that genetic factors play a role in the development of SZ. Therefore it provides a partial explanation of SZ, which lowers the overall accuracy and validity of the explanation as a whole
C: However, it simplifies complex phenomena, making them more understandable and researchable. By focusing on specific social factors, such as family communication patterns, researchers can isolate the impact of these triggers on schizophrenia to develop preventions
Evaluate the explanation for being useful
P: One strength of the dysfunctional families is that it has useful application for guiding family members in understanding schizophrenia to reduce risk of relapse
E: Pharoah et al reviewed 53 randomised control trials and concluded that ‘family intervention’ decreased frequency of relapse and hospital admissions. Family intervention is a method of modifying that includes family members reducing expressions of anger and guilt and maintaining reasonable expectations about how a schizophrenic may perform
T: This suggests that by educating caregivers, it will greatly improve the lives of both SZ and their caregivers. Therefore, this further increases the validity and reliability of the explanation (due to the proven effectiveness)
C: However, relying solely on family-focused interventions might limit treatment options for those without supportive or willing family environments, reducing the overall applicability of the approach. Tarrier et al. (1988) found that the outcomes varied significantly, and that individual based treatments (like CBT) were significantly more effective. Suggesting that application from this explanation may be less useful than other applications from other explanations
