psychological explanations of schizophrenia

• family dysfunction:

  • schizophrenogenic mother
  • double blind theory
  • expressed emotions
• schizophrenogenic mother:

  • fromm-reichmann proposed psychodynamic explanation based on patients childhood accounts
  • type mentioned - cold, rejecting - leads to tense environment + distrust + paranoid delusions
• double bind theory (bateson et al):

  • role of communication in family - child worries about doing wrong but mixed messages on what wrong is, cant comment or seek clarification
  • wrong results = withdrawal of love, world is confusing
  • can lead to disorganised thinking + paranoid delusions
• expressed emotions:

  • verbal criticism/violence, hostility, emotional over involvement
  • serious source of stress , primary cause of relapse + can cause disorder in vulnerable people (diathesis stress)
• cognitive explanations:

  • less processing in temporal + cingulate gyri - positive symptoms e.g hallucinations
  • lower processing in central striatum - negative symptoms e.g avolition
  • lower processing = cognition most likely impaired
• types of dysfunctional thought processing (frith):

  • metarepresentation
  • central control
• metarepresentation:

  • cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts + behaviour + interpretation of others actions
  • dysfunctional - cant recognise own actions, someone inserts thoughts
  • explains auditory hallucinations + delusions
• central control:

  • cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses when performing deliberate actions
  • dysfunctional - cant suppress thoughts/speech, can lead to alogia - derailment of thoughts trigger word associations
• EVALUATION: family dysfunction research support

  • read et al - 46 studies, 69% female, 59% male had physical/sexual abuse history
  • tienari et al - vulnerability doesnt cause schizo itself, adoptees needed schizo mother + disturbed environment
  • increases validity that family dysfunction plays a role in development of schizo
• EVALUATION: cognitive explanations research support

  • stirling et al - 30 patients, 18 non patients completed stroop test, patients took 2x longer to identify ink colours
  • jauhar et al - 34 CBT studies, effect on positive + negative symptoms
  • increases validity, led to development of treatments
• EVALUATION: weak evidence for family dysfunction

  • led to parent blaming - led to further trauma for receiving blame
  • childhood experiences collected after development of symptoms - schizo may have distorted recall
  • appropriateness + credibility of research undermined
• EVALUATION: direction of casualty

  • unsure if metarepresentation decreases dopamine in superior temporal gyrus or if direction of casualty reversed
  • lowers validity of psychological explanations - ambiguous as unsure what mechanism causes characteristics
  • biological origins ignored, holistic approach more appropriate