Psychological therapies

• What is cognitive explanation of schizophrenia?

  Explaining schizophrenia thorough disruptions to normal mental processes (delusions and hallucinations) suggestingimpaired cognition and dysfunction information processing
• Frith et al (1992)

  Identified two kinds ofdysfunctional thought processing(DTP) :- Metarepresentation dysfunction- Central control dysfunction
• What is dysfunctional thought processing?

  DTP: Atypical (unusual) information processing which produces maladaptive (abnormal) effects
• Metarepresentation


  Meta - to reference oneselfMetarepresentationis the cognitive ability to reflect on our own thoughts, behaviours and goals as well those of othersIf the ability is disrupted (metarepresentation dysfunction) one can no longer recognise their own thoughts and actions as their ownThis can lead to the sensation of hearing voices (auditory hallucinations) and experience of having thoughts placed in our minds by others (delusions - thought insertion)
• Central control


  The cognitive ability tosuppress automatic responses(swearing if someone is annoying you) and performdeliberate actions(acting in socially acceptable ways) insteadThis is impaired in schizophrenia sufferers which can lead tothough disorder(disruption to our thought processes) which can be expressed asdisorganised speech and writing.This is because unwanted impulses and associations during thought and communication cannot be stopped
• Stirling et al (2005) - strength for central control


  Carried out theStroop taskon schizophrenicsStroop test - naming the ink colour of colour wordsStirlingcompared 30 schizophrenic patients with 30 controls and got them to do a range of cognitive tasks including thestroop taskRequired ability to suppress impulse to read word and focus on saying the colour ink insteadSchizophrenic patients tookover twice as longto name the colour compared to the control groupThisincreases the validityof dysfunctional central control as explanation of schizophrenia (supports the idea that schizophrenics cognitive functioning is impaired
• Practical application - strength of cognitive approach


  CBT can be an effective therapy treatment for Sz
• Unclear cognitive mechanisms - limitation of cognitive explanation


  Cognitive theories do not explain what led to the cognitive dysfunctions seen in schizophreniaCognitive theories can only ever explain theproximal originsof the condition (what’s causing current symptoms) but not thedistal causes(the origins of the disorder)May be forced to consider biological explanations as cognitive explanations cannot explain the cause of the disorder
• Lab setting - limitation of cognitive explanation


  Many strengths of the cognitive explanation come from lab studiesLab setting = low ecological validity∴ difficult to generalise these controlled results to how schizophrenics actually process information in real life situations