A01

• 1.Psychological explanations for schizophrenia may focus on a dysfunctional family. Fromm-Reichmann explained how the ‘schizophrenogenic mother’ is cold, rejecting and controlling, creating tension and secrecy within the family, which can lead to distrust that can develop into paranoid delusions.
• The double-bind theory focuses on communication style within the family. This is a communication dilemma that comes from a conflict between two or more messages, which can leave people with a confusing understanding of the world, developing into symptoms like disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions.

  Expressed emotion refers to the negative emotions expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their carers, such as verbal criticism and emotional over-involvement. This can cause a lot of stress and may explain relapse rates for people with schizophrenia.
• Another part of the psychological explanation emphasises the mind and the abnormal information processing. For example, dysfunctional metarepresentation (interpreting your own and others’ intentions and actions) could explain voice hallucinations. Likewise, dysfunctional central control (suppressing automatic thoughts) could result in disorganised speech as they are unable to suppress thoughts triggered by speech.