Psychological Explanations for Schizophrenia

• Who proposed the psychodynamic explanation for schizophrenia?

  Fromm-Reichmann
• What did Fromm-Reichmann observe about her patients' childhoods?

  Many spoke of a specific type of parent
• What term did Fromm-Reichmann use to describe a specific type of parent?

  Schizophrenogenic mother
• What characteristics define the schizophrenogenic mother?

  Cold, rejecting, and controlling
• What family climate does the schizophrenogenic mother create?

  Tension and secrecy
• How does the family climate from a schizophrenogenic mother affect children?

  Leads to distrust and paranoid delusions
• Who emphasized the role of communication style in schizophrenia development?

  Bateson et al
• What is the main idea of the Double-Bind Theory?

  Mixed messages create confusion for children
• What happens when a child in a double-bind situation 'gets it wrong'?

  They are punished by withdrawal of love
• What do children learn from double-bind situations?

  The world is confusing and dangerous
• What does Expressed Emotion (EE) refer to?

  Negative emotions expressed by caregivers
• How does high EE affect individuals with schizophrenia?

  It may trigger onset or relapse of SZ
• What are the elements of Expressed Emotion?

  Criticism, hostility, emotional overinvolvement
• What did Stirling et al. (2006) compare in their study?

  Cognitive task performance in SZ patients
• What cognitive task did Stirling et al. use in their research?

  The Stroop task
• How did people with SZ perform on the Stroop task?

  They took over twice as long on average
• What is associated with negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

  Reduced processing in the ventral striatum
• What is metarepresentation?

  The ability to reflect on thoughts and behavior
• What does dysfunction in metarepresentation disrupt?

  Recognition of thoughts as our own
• What are the strengths of family dysfunction explanations for schizophrenia?

  • Evidence linking family dysfunction to SZ
  • Review by Read et al. (2005) shows insecure attachment
  • High rates of abuse in individuals with SZ
• What are the weaknesses of family dysfunction explanations for schizophrenia?

  • Poor evidence base for explanations
  • Lack of support for traditional theories
  • Based on clinical observations, not empirical data
• What are the strengths of cognitive explanations for schizophrenia?

  • Evidence for dysfunctional thought processing
  • Stirling et al. (2006) supports cognitive impairment
  • Central control theory aligns with findings
• What are the weaknesses of cognitive explanations for schizophrenia?

  • Only proximal origins of symptoms explained
  • Cognitive theories provide partial explanations
  • Distal causes like genetics are not addressed
• What are the main theories linking family dysfunction to schizophrenia?

  • Schizophrenogenic mother
  • Double-bind theory
  • Expressed emotion (EE)