Importance of Interactionist Approach

• :) RTS Tienari

  > 19000 adopted children in Finland whose mothers had schizophrenia compared to control group of adopted children without any genetic risk - child rearing styles of adoptive parents were observed

  > children raised in families with conflict and low empathy (family dysfunction) were more likely to develop schizophrenia, but only in the group with a genetic vulnerability

  > both genetic vulnerability and stress are important in the development of schizophrenia
• :( individual differences

  > two people may have the same vulnerability and stressor, but one may not develop schizophrenia

  > we do not have a full understanding of the interactionist approach - more research may need to be conducted
• :) RTS Tarrier

  > 315 patients randomly allocated to treatment conditions

  > patients given a combined therapy of medication and CBT had lower symptom levels than a control group with just medication

  > by adopting an interactionist approach and using both biological and psychological therapies, schizophrenic symptoms are treated more effectively
• :( treatment-causation fallacy

  > Jarvis and Okami - just because combining both biological and psychological treatments is more effective in treating schizophrenia, does not mean that it is this interaction of the two that causes schizophrenia

  > limitation of the interactionist approach