Family Dysfunction Explanation of Schizophrenia

• What does the family dysfunction explanation of schizophrenia?

  Family conflict leads to stress and confusion in individuals, which causes the development of schizophrenia.

  Both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia can develop over time.
• What is a double bind?


  A double bind is when someone experiences contradictory messages, confusing them on how they should behave.
• What are they 2 explanations of the Family Dysfunction?

  • Expressed Emotion
  • Double bind
• A high degree of expressed emotion is when...?


  Members of a family speak to each other in negative ways, consistently expressing lots of criticism and complaints about what everyone else is doing.
• According to the family dysfunction explanation of schizophrenia, double binds and a high degree of expressed emotion cause schizophrenia, because they create stress and confusion for the child.  
• Family Dysfunction: Study Support

  • Vaughan and Leff conducted a research on the effects of expressed emotion on Sz patients. He found that patients were more likely to relapse if there was a high degree of expressed emotion present within the family.
  • Berger conducted a research on the effects of double blinds on Sz patients. He found that people with Sz were more able to recall more experiences of double binds from their childhood, compared to a control group.
• Limitations of the support for the family dysfunction explanation

  • The evidence may be unreliable due to using the self report method, or interviews may lack objectivity
• Limitations of Family Dysfunction: Individual Differences

  Altorfer et al. found that there are individual differences in responses to expressed emotion amongst people with schizophrenia and a quarter of all people with schizophrenia had no stress response to a high degree of expressed emotion aimed towards them.
• The family dysfunction explanation states that family conflict, such as double blind and a high degree of expressed emotion, causes stress, which causes schizophrenia.
• What are the steps involved in family therapy?

  • Educating the family about the symptoms of schizophrenia.
  • Teaching new coping strategies to manage the patients’ symptoms.
  • Changing the family’s communication style.
• Study support for family therapy.

  Pharoah et al.’s review aimed to investigate the effectiveness of combining family therapy and medication. They found that those who received family therapy were more likely to take their medication consistently and were less likely to relapse.
• What did NICE find about family therapy?


  Family therapy reduces the likelihood of relapse meaning it is more cost effective for the NHS.
• What is a limitation of Pharoah et al.'s review?


  Many of the studies who claimed to use random allocation, didn't meaning many did not control for participant variables. Lacking reliability, validity and objectivity.