The interactionist approach to schizohrenia Flashcards
What is the interactionist approach
Acknowledges there are biological/social/psychological factors involved in schizophrenia and these factors interact
Example of biological factors in developing
schizophrenia
-Genetic vulnerability
-Neurochemical/Neurological abnormality
Example of psychological factors in developing schizophrenia
Stress (e.g caused by childhood trauma)
Example of social factors in developing schizophrenia
Poor quality interactions in family
What does diathesis mean (diathesis stress model)
Vulnerability
Diathesis stress model explaining schizophrenia
Vulnerability + stress-trigger= schizophrenia
Who created the original diathesis stress model
Meehl (1962)
Meehl’s diathesis stress model
Diathesis= genetic (schizogene) causes schizotopic personality
-Schizotopic personality more sensitive to stress
So chronic stress in early life= schizophrenia for carriers of the gene
How is the modern understanding of diathesis different from Meehl’s model?
Schizophrenia is polygenic so not caused by single “schizogene)
Diathesis can be childhood trauma (e.g Read et al’s neurodevelopmental model)
Read et al’s neurodevelopmental model
Severe early trauma affects brain development
Can= overactive HPA system which makes a person much more vulnerable to later stress
What is the HPA system
Hypothalamic-Pituatary-Adrenal system
Modern definition of stress
Stressor can be anything that + risk of developing schizophrenia e.g smoking cannabis
How does smoking cannabis cause schizophrenia
x 7 increased risk, probably because interferes with dopamine system
But must have genetic vulnerability
How is schizophrenia treated according to interactionist approach
Antipsychotic drugs for biological factors
Psychological therapies to relieve psychological symptoms (e.g CBT)
What is the standard practise to treating schizophrenia in the UK
Antipsychotic drugs + CBD
How is schizophrenia treated in US
Slower adoption of interactionist approach= more common to give drugs without psychological treatment
Strength of interactionist approach
Evidence supporting role of vulnerability/trigger
e.g Tienari et al’s adoption study: adoptees with fam history of S compared to those without
-Adoptive parents assessed for child-rearing style= bad parenting strongly associated with S but only in high genetic vulnerability group
So combination of genetic vulnerability/family stress can = S
Weakness of original diathesis-stress model
Oversimplicity
-e.g schizophrenia polygenic so not caused by 1 “schizogene”/stressor can be more than just schizophrenogenic parenting (e.g weed)
So multiple factors affecting diathesis/stress, hence supporting modern understanding
Houston et al’s study
Found childhood sexual abuse= diathesis and smoking cannabis= trigger
So diathesis and triggers can come in many shapes and sizes
2 Strength of interactionist approach
Real-world application treatments as led to combination of drugs/psychological therapies used
-Research support e.g Tarrier et al found 2 groups given combination showed less symptoms than drug only group
So clear practical advantage in adopting interactionist approach
Counterpoint to application of interactionist approach in developing treatments
Treatment-causation fallacy
-Cannot assume success of combined therapies means the interactionist approach is correct
