• According to the diathesis stress model, genetics determines a person's vulnerability to schizophrenia, but schizophrenia is only triggered in response to environmental stressors.
• So, a person with a high genetic predisposition towards schizophrenia may never develop the disorder but a person with a lower genetic predisposition may develop schizophrenia if exposed to enough environmental
AO3-Holistic
- Rather than reducing schizophrenia to one single cause, the diathesis-stress model accounts for the multitude of factors that contribute to the disorder. This can be seen as a more complete picture of schizophrenia
AO3-supporting evidence
There is evidence supporting the role of both a biological diathesis and environmental triggers e,g, a meta-analysis by Varese et al (2012) found that stressful events in childhood increase the risk of schizophrenia.
AO3-Practical application
- Interactionist approaches may result in more effective treatment e.g. antipsychotic drugs can be combined with CBT or family therapy. In general, research suggests this is more effective than monotherapy
AO3-increased costs
- Multiple treatments will be more expensive than monotherapy. But if this results in lower relapse rates, this could save money in the long term
