AO1

• psychologists have attempted to link schizophrenia to childhood and adult experiences of living in a dysfunctional family
• Fromm-Reichmann proposed a psychodynamic explanation
• Fromm-Reichmann noted that many of her patients spoke of a particular type of parent, the schizophrenogenic mother
• schizophrenogenic literally means schizophrenia causing
• according to Fromm-Reichmann the schizophrenogenic mother is cold, rejecting and controlling and tends to create a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy
• this leads to distrust that later develops into paranoid delusions and ultimately schizophrenia
• Bateson et al agreed that family climate is important in the development of schizophrenia but emphasised the role of communication style within a family
• The developing child regularly finds themselves trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing but receive mixed messages about what this is and feel unable to comment on the unfairness of this situation or seek clarification
• when they get it wrong the child is punished by withdrawal of love
• This leaves the child with an understanding of the world as confusing or dangerous and this is reflected in symptoms like disorganised thinking paranoid delusions
• expressed emotion is the level of emotion expressed towards a person with schizophrenia by their carers who are often family members
• EE contains several elements: verbal criticism occasionally accompanied by violence, hostility towards the person including anger and rejection and emotional overinvolvement in the life of the person
• These high levels of expressed emotion are a serious source of stress
• EE is primarily an explanation for relapse but it has also been suggested that it may be a source of stress that can trigger the onset of a person who is already vulnerable