psychological explanation

• what are the 3 factors of using family dysfunctions to explain schizophrenia?

  1. schizophrenogenic mother
  2. Double-blind theory
  3. expressed emotion
• What are the 2 psychological explanations for schizophrenia?

  1. Family dysfunction

  2. Cognitive explanations
• explain 'the schizophrenic mother':

  Frieda Fromm-Reichman

  • proposed an explanation based on the accounts she heard from her clients about their childhoods
  • many of the clients spoke of a type of parent ( the 'schizophrenic-causing mother'
  • mother is cold, rejecting and controlling/ tends to create family tension and secrecy
  • leads to the patient developing paranoid delusions
• what are family dysfunctions

  psychologists have attempted to link schizo to children and adult experiences of living in a dysfunctional family
• explain the double-blind theory

  Gregory Bateson et al 1972

  • family climate is important in the development of schizophrenia but emphasises the role of communication
  • some situations where a child is punished by a 'withdrawal of love'
  • (leaving them with an understanding that the world is dangerous and reflects in symptoms like disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions)- a risk factor
• Expressed emotion

  • high levels of expressed emotion in carers directed towards the person are a serious cause of stress.
  • primary explanation for relapse
  • however it has been suggested that stress can be a trigger due to their genetic make-up
• what are the elements of EE

  1. Verbal criticism of the person, occasionally accompanied by violence
  2. Hostility towards the person, including anger and rejection
  3. Emotional over-involvement in the life of the person, including needless self-sacrifice
• explain the cognitive explanations in terms of the psychological explanation for schizophrenia

  focuses on the role of mental processes. 

  Schizo is associated with types of abnormal information processing, this can explain as a whole 

  • Christopher Firth et al 1992 - identified 2 kinds of dysfunctional thought processing
• what are Christopher Frith et al's 1992 2 kinds of dysfunctional thought processing?

  1. Metarepresentataion 
  2. Central control
• what is metarepresentation in terms of the psychological explanation for schizophrenia?

  the cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour

  dysfunction in metarepresentation would disrupt our ability to recognise our actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else 

  • explains hallucinations of voices and delusions like thought insertion
• how does the psychological explanation for schizophrenia have weak evidence for family-based explanations?

  almost no evidence supporting the importance of the schizophrenic mother or double-blind 

  these theories are based on clinical observations and early evidence assessing the mother or patients 

  they have also led to patient blaming.

  • adds insult to injury
• how does the psychological explanation for schizophrenia have strong evidence for dysfunctional information processing?

  strong support for the idea that information is processed differently in the mind of the schizo 

  Stirling et al 2006 

  compared 30 people with shiso and 18 controls on a range of cognitive tasks (Stroop test)

  --> Suppressing the impulse to read the words in order 

  • in line with Frith's theory of central control dysfunction
• what is the counterargument for the psychological explanation of schizophrenia having strong evidence for dysfunctional information processing?

  there is a problem with the cognitive explanation.

  • does not tell us anything about the origins of those cognitions in schizophrenia