psychological explanations of schizophrenia

• what falls under the psychological explanation of SCZ?


  -family dysfunction

  -cognitive explanation
• Family dysfunction


  Processes within the family you're in can be risk factors to SCZ - can cause, maintain or lead to relapse in SCZ

  Involve 'schizophrenogenic mother'; double bind theory and expressed emotion
• cognitive explanation


  impairment in cognitive (mental) processes
• Fromm-Reichmann (1948)


  -schizophrenogenic mother

  -many SCZ patients say their mother is cold; rejecting and -controlling (creates tension) which causes distrust, secrecy and explains paranoid delusions (persecutory delusions)
• double bind theory


  -Bateson et al (1972)

  -receive mixed messages from people you live with - risk factor for SCZ

  -children can be in situations where they fear messing up and are met with hostility

  -leads to disorganised thinking & persecutory delusions
• expressed emotion


  -over-involvement in persons with SCZ life, usually express negative emotions e.g., verbal criticism; hostility and needless self-sacrifice

  -people with a biological predisposition to SCZ are at a higher risk
• cognitive explanation of SCZ


  -Frith et al (1992): main 2 thought processes that are dysfunctional in people with SCZ

  -meta-representation: cognitive ability to reflect on your own thoughts, feelings & behaviours, can also interpret others. Impaired in people with SCZ - hard for people with SCZ to recognise that their thoughts are their thoughts. Links to symptoms like thought insertion & hallucinations

  -central control: ability to suppress automatic thoughts/responses/reactions. People with SCZ lack this, they experience regular derailment (tangents) in conversation as they say everything they think. Explains disorganised thoughts
• psychological explanations of schizophrenia - AO3


  Strength(s):

  -family dysfunction lacks research support: idea of schizophrenogenic mother & double bind theory = limited evidence & based on informal assessments/observations of personality. Causes psychological harm by blaming the family. Liem (1974): communication in families with SCZ child is the same as that in families without SCZ child. Shows that FD as a psychological explanation lacks validity.

  -family dysfunction = research support. Read et al: adults with SCZ = insecure attachment type. Shows that family dynamics & dysfunctions influence the onset of SCZ. D: socially sensitive - blaming the family/caregiver & gives social pressures to parents. Read also found 69% of women & 59% of men experienced abuse which supports FD & has use in explaining causes of SCZ & treatments through a trauma-informed approach. Increases validity.

  -cognitive explanations - central control: Stirling et al: 30 ppts with SCZ & 18 ppts without SCZ - stoop test. Ppts with SCZ 2x longer than the control group shows SCZ have dysfunctions in central control. D: unrealistic task, lacks mundane realism.

  
  

  Weakness(es):

  -cognitive explanation is a proximal explanation - it only explains what is happening now, not the causes of SCZ. Other explanations, like biological, are distal explanations that tell use causes of SCZ. Psychological explanation does not tell use risk factors/preventions for SCZ but still has use in informing treatments.