interactionist approach to schizophrenia

• what does the interactionist approach combine?

  The biological and psychological explanations of schizophrenia via a diathesis-stress model
• diathesis-stress model


  diathesis (vulnerability) has to interact with the stress (negative experience) = schizophrenia
• Meehl (1962) - original diathesis-stress model


  -suggested vulnerability = pure genetics, a schizogene which leads to a schizotypical personality (sensitive to stress), stress identified as the schizophrenogenic mother

  -no stress will lead to schizophrenia if the gene is not present
• Read et al (2001) - modern diathesis-stress model


  -there is no schizogene, schizophrenia is polygenic

  -psychological trauma can act as a vulnerability to schizophrenia as it can alter brain development e.g., child abuse affects the HPA which can make people more vulnerable to stress

  -stress is no longer just the schizophrenogenic mother, it can be things like work, grief, substance abuse e.g., cannabis which impacts the dopamine system, causing negative symptoms
• interactionist approach treating SCZ


  -combine the biological and psychological treatments of schizophrenia

  -use antipsychotics; family therapy & CBT

  -Turkington et al: SCZ has a biological basis but use CBT to relieve psychological symptoms

  -in the UK a combination of bio & psych treatments are used; in the USA they are normally not combined and biological treatments are used more often
• AO3


  Strength(s):

  -research support for vulnerabilities & stresses. 19 thousand Finish children ppts, adoption study. Experimental group had mothers with SCZ. Found that high levels of family dysfunction are associated with the onset of SCZ but only in ppts with schizophrenic mother. Increases the validity of the explanation.

  -RWA - treatments. A psychologist found that when people had CBT/counselling & meds their symptoms were better treated than when they just had meds. HOWEVER, this did not decrease relapse rates & there is a treatment-causation fallacy, the explanation cannot have high validity just because of the treatment due to extraneous variables. Although there is use in informing treatments the explanation has decreased validity.

  -holistic approach

  
  

  Weakness(es):

  -original diathesis-stress model is outdated and simplistic as it was developed in 1962 & puts an emphasis on biological causes of SCZ. This means that the model lacks validity as it is over-simplistic and may not explain the true/all cases of SCZ & lacks temporal validity. HOWEVER, the modern model is more holistic and considers how the disorder is polygenic so there is no schizogene & how stressors go beyond the schizophrenogenic mother. Means that this model can be applied to the causes of SCZ.