PSYCH EXP

• What are the 3 psychological explanations for schizophrenia

  • Schizophrenogenic mother
  • Double-bind theory
  • Expressed emotion
• What is the theory of the schizophrenogenic mother?

  • FRIEDA-FROMM-REICHMANN
  • A cold rejecting mother leads to a family dynamic of tension and secrecy
  • Leads to distrust which develops into paranoid delusions and schizophrenia
• What is the double-bind theory?

  • Gregory Bateson et al
  • Developing child finds themselves trapped in fear of doing the wrong thing
  • Receive mixed messages about this
  • Getting something wrong results in withdrawal of love
  • Child is left with a confusing and dangerous understanding of the world
  • Reflected in disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions
• What is the expressed emotion theory?

  • The level of emotion expressed towards a person with SZ
  • EE contains verbal criticism and violence, hostility and emotional over-involvement
  • High levels of emotion in carers are a source of stress for the patient which may lead to SZ relapse
  • Can also trigger onset of SZ if someone is vulnerable
• What is the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia?

  • Dysfunctional thought processing
  • Metarepresentation dysfunction
  • Central control dysfunction
• What is dysfunctional thought processing and what are the two types?

  • Suggested by Christopher Frith et al
  • Cognitive habits or beliefs that cause the individual to evaluate information inappropriately and produce undesirable consequences
  • Metarepresentation and central control
• What is metarepresentation?

  • Cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour
  • Insight into our own intentions and goals
  • Dysfunction disrupts our ability to recognise our thoughts being carried out by ourselves (rather than someone else)
  • Explains auditory hallucinations and delusions such as insertion
• What is central control?

  • Cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions
  • Dysfunction would lead to disorganised speech and thought disorder
  • Unable to suppress automatic thoughts and speech triggered by other thoughts
  • E.g. SZs experience derailment of thoughts and spoken sentences as words trigger associations they can't suppress
• What research supports the idea of family dysfunction as a risk factor? (AO3)

  • Read et al
  • Reviewed 46 studies of child abuse and schizophrenia
  • 69% adult women in-patients with SZ diagnosis had a history of physical/sexual abuse
  • 59% in men
  • Suggests that environments of family dysfunction is likely to increase vulnerability to SZ and therefore is a viable exp.
• What is a problem with the evidence to support family-based exps. (AO3)

  • Little to no research evidence to support the schizophrenogenic mother and double bind theory
  • Theories are based off of clinical observations of patients and early observations
  • Has also led to blaming parents to development of conditions which has led to trauma
• Research evidence to support dysfunctional information processing (AO3)

  • Stirling et al
  • Compared 30 people with SZ diagnosis to 18 controls on cognitive tasks using Stroop Tests
  • Found: people with SZ took over twice as long to name ink colours
  • Therefore supports idea that SZ sufferers have central control dysfunction and ability to suppress automatic responses therefore high EV
• What is a limitation of evidence to support dysfunctional processing/faulty cognitions (AO3)

  • However, eventhough links between symptoms and faulty cognitions are clear, the origins of these cognitions cannot be explained.
  • Cognitive theories can explain the proximal cause of schizophrenia (e.g. what causes current symptoms but not the distal causes)
• MIXED EVIDENCE FOR DOUBLE BIND AND SZ MOTHER (AO3)

  • Although there is plenty of evidence to support the broad principle that poor childhood experiences in the family are associated with adult schizophrenia, there is almost none to support the importance of the sz mother or double-bind
  • Berger found that schizophrenics reported a higher recall of double bind statements by their mothers than non-schizophrenics
  • Other research is less supportive, Lieger found no difference in parental communication in families with a schizophrenic child and ‘normal’ families.
  • Mixed evidence based upon self-report studies that lack validity
  • SZ may have distorted patients memory of family dynamics and the use of this type of data is questionable in the first place
  • Parents may also be unwilling to share aspects of negative communications.
• ETHICAL ISSUE- PARENT BLAMING (AO3)

  • Historically, family-based explanations have led to parent-blaming
  • Parents, who have already suffered at seeing their child’s descent into schizophrenia and who are likely to bear the lifelong responsibility for their care, feel responsible for their child’s illness causing even greater stress and anxiety
  • Out-dated views that were once accepted are no longer tolerated by families and are now seen as destructive rather than productive
  • These explanations are socially sensitive and can be seen as placing unfair blame on family members who are supporting the patient
  • There has been a shift since the 1980s from hospital to community care, often involving parental care
  • This has led to the rejection of schizophrenogenic mother and double bind as explanations as parents no longer tolerate them
  • There is also a gender bias with schizophrenogenic mother blaming women in particular.
• LIMITATION FOR EE (AO3)

  • Altorfer et al. (1998) found that ¼ of the patients they studied showed no physiological responses to stressful comments from their relatives.
  • Weakness – undermining evidence Individual differences – not all patients who live in high EE families relapse, not all patients who live in low EE avoid relapse
  • It can also depend on how the patient perceives EE in the family as some will not perceive it as negative or stressful and can do well regardless of how their family environment is objectively rated.
  • Family dysfunction is therefore an incomplete explanation for SZ.