FAMILY DYSFUNCTION

• FAMILY DYSFUNCTION 


  suggests hostile communication and maladaptive relationships within a family can act as stressors that may lead to the development

  of schizophrenia.
• FAMILY DYSFUNCTION - DOUBLE BIND THEORY 


  a child may be regularly trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing, but receive conflicting messages about what counts as wrong. they cannot express their feelings about the unfairness of the situation.

  when they 'get it wrong' the child is punished by withdrawal of love - they learn the world is confusing and dangerous, leading to disorganised thinking and delusions
• FAMILY DYSFUNCTION - EXPRESSED EMOTIONS (EE)

  • verbal criticism of the person with sz
  • hostility towards them
  • emotional over-involvement in their life

  high levels of EE cause stress in the person, may trigger onset of sz or relapse
• FAMILY DYSFUNCTION - SCHIZOPHRENOGENIC MOTHER 


  these mothers are cold, rejecting and controlling, and create a family climate of tension and secrecy. this leads to distrust and paranoid delusions and sz
• (+) FAMILY DYSFUNCTION 


  TIENARI ET AL =

  children with schizophrenic biological mothers were 31% more likely

  to develop schizophrenia when adopted into dysfunctional families compared to functional ones. This supports the influence of family relationships on the development of schizophrenia. As well as this it also highlights how biological vulnerability increases the effects of environmental stressors on the development of schizophrenia.
• (-) FAMILY DYSFUNCTION 


  However, this cannot be a full explanation for schizophrenia as some individuals grow up in healthy families and still develop schizophrenia.
• (-) FAMILY DYSFUNCTION 


  TOO REDUCTIONIST =

  because it ignores the influence of genetic/biological factors on aggression e.g abnormal levels of dopamine. Instead it places all blame on the parents and the home environment, thus reducing the complex disorder to just one explanation.
• (+) DOUBLE BIND 


  BERGER =

  found that schizophrenics reported remembering more double bind statements made by their mothers than non-sz when asked to think back to childhood = family communication styles could be the reason for the development of sz. (-) studies that ask patients to report past experiences may be unreliable as patients recall may be affected by their sz = FD may not be as supported
• (+) EXPRESSED EMOTIONS 


  has led to useful applications = treatments

  E.G the theory of of EE led to family therapy, which reduces conflict between parents and their children by teaching communication skills, listening skills etc. ANDERSON ET AL = schizophrenics showed a relapse rate of 5% when both drugs and family therapy were used together. = gaining an insight into family relationships allow psychologists to help manage symptoms
• (-) FAMILY DYSFUNCTION


  problem explaining cause and effect = it is hard to determine if -ve communication styles lead to SZ or if SZ leads to -ve communication styles. psychologists found significant differences in the way mothers spoke to their sz daughters compared to their normal daughters = dysfunctional communication may be a result of living with the schizophrenic rather than the cause of the disorder in the first place