Family dysfunction

• What is family dysfunction ?

  processes within the family such as poor family communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion
• What is the Schizophrenogenic Mother

  Frieda Fromm-Reichmann (1948)

  • based on accounts from childhood
  • mother is cold, rejecting and controlling and tends to create a family climate characterised by tensions and secrecy
  • leads to distrust that later develops into paranoid delusions and ultimately schizophrenia
• Limitations of research into the Schizophrenogenic mother

  • based on accounts from childhood, lacks validity= not very scientific, may be inaccurate, issues with memory
  • investigator effects: how questions are phrased could Influence responses
  • socially sensitive: only talks about mothers being the problem, ignores how fathers could be the same
• What is the double-bind theory in schizophrenia

  Schizophrenia is caused by mixed messages from parents that express care but at the same time appear critical
• How does the double-bind theory relate to schizophrenia

  Repeated exposure to conflicting messages may contribute to disorganised thinking, delusions and difficulty distinguishing reality
• What are the key characteristics of a double-bind?

  1. Conflicting messages (verbal or non-verbal)
  2. No escape from the situation- no matter what they do is wrong, feel unable to comment on unfairness
  3. Punishment or withdrawal of love for choosing either option
• What is ‘Expressed emotion’

  Level of emotion, in particular negative emotions, expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their family members
• Elements of expressed emotions

  • verbal criticism of the person
  • hostility towards the person, including anger and rejection
  • emotional over involvement in the life of the person
• How does expressed emotion trigger the onset of schizophrenia

  • high levels of expressed emotion directed towards the individual is a serious source of stress
  • especially for a person who is already vulnerable due to genetics or relapse
• Research support for family dysfunction - Linzen et al

  Linzen et al. (1997)

  • found that a patient who returns to a family high in hostility, criticism and emotional over involvement is approximately 4x more likely or relapse than patients who return to a family that has a low amount of expressed emotion

  = shows that people recovering from schizophrenia are more likely to experience a return of their symptoms when they go back to a dysfunctional family
• Limitation of dysfunctional family explanation

  High expressed emotion amongst families could be a symptom rather than a cause
• Support for family dysfunction explanation - Berger (1965)

  • found that people with schizophrenia reported a higher recall of double-bind statements by their mothers than people without the disorder

  = implies that it was the exposure to mixed messages from a family member that caused the schizophrenia to occur