Psychological explanations

• What is double bind?


  Contradictory messages from parents
• What is some evidence for double bind?

  Bateson - Someone relapsed after he saw his mother and she stiffened when he hugged her, but she then said he mustn’t be embarrassed and afraid of his feelings. She gave him contradictory messages in that moment
• What is expressed emotion?

  A qualitative measurement of the amount of emotion displayed in the home
• What can high expressed emotion lead to?

  • Worsening the prognosis of patients with SZ
  • Increase the likelihood of relapse
• How does hostility affect SZ patients?

  A negative attitude is directed to the patient as family believe they can control the illness, and the illness causes problems, worsening the condition
• How does emotional over-involvement cause SZ?

  Family blame themselves for the mental illnes, making the patient feel guilty This causes stress and therefore relapse
• How do critical comments affect SZ?

  The family criticises the patient for having the condition which causes stress and therefore relapse
• How can the Diathesis stress model be applied here?


  High expressed emotion can cause SZ in someone who is vulnerable due to their genetics
• What are the components of expressed emotion?

  • Hostility
  • Emotional over-involvement
  • Critical comments
• What did Butzlaff and Hooley find about expressed emotion?


  SZ patients returning to a home with high EE are more likely to relapse
• What did Tierani find about hostile environments?


  Children with biological mothers with SZ who are adopted into high hostility environments are more likely to get SZ
• What is the positive of the psychological explanation?

  Leads to family therapies to reduce EE
• What are the negatives to the psychological approach?

  • Why don’t all children in high EE households get SZ?
  • SZ may lead to family dysfunction, not the other way around (direction of effect)