Family Dysfunction

• Family dysfunction - psychologists have tried to link schizophrenia with childhood experiences of living in a dysfunctional family
• The Schizophrenogenic Mother

  • psychodynamic explanation based on the accounts of clients' childhoods
• Schizophrenogenic Mother

  • the schizophrenogenic (schizophrenia-causing) mother is cold, rejecting and controlling
  • this leads to distrust that later develops into paranoid delusions and schizophrenia
• Double Bind Theory

  • Bateson agreed that family climate is important in the development of schizophrenia but focused on the role of communication style within a family
• Double Bind Theory

  • based around a child feeling trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing but are unsure what is wrong
  • when they do get it wrong, they are punished by the withdrawal of love
  • this leaves them understanding the world as confused and dangerous (which is then reflected in schizophrenic symptoms)
• Expressed emotion - the level of emotion expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their carers, including:

  • verbal criticism (and violence)
  • hostility towards the person (anger/rejection)
  • emotional over-involvement in the life of the person
• The high levels of expressed emotion in carers directed towards the patient is a serious source of stress - a primary explanation for relapse