explanation claims that if an individual has particular genes/abnormal dopamine/enlarged ventricles they WILL have the disorder
doesn't allow for free will, could lead to negative attitudes about recovery and effect treatment outcomes
weakness of biological explanations
biologically reductionist
oversimplifies schizophrenia in terms of biology but the social context isn't considered
many researchers accept that it appears to run in families might be do with parenting
research on expressed emotion has shown that the negative emotion climate in some families can lead to stress beyond the individuals coping mechanisms - triggering an episode
would be more effective to take an interactionist approach - diathesis-stress model
