interactionist explanation

Question 1

how does the interactionist explanation of schizophrenia explain schizophrenia?

Answer 1

tries to explain schizophrenia by showing how different biological and psychological factors interact.

Question 2

what does the interactionist explanation of schizophrenia say?

Answer 2

that schizophrenia is caused by an interaction between biological factors and psychological factors.

Question 3

what does it mean if someone has a diathesis for an illness?

Answer 3

when a person has an increased risk of developing an illness because of biological factors, we say that they have a diathesis for the illness

Question 4

what does diathesis mean?

Answer 4

when someone is predisposed to developing the illness

Question 5

according to the interactionist explanation of schizophrenia, what does a person need to develop schizophrenia?

Answer 5

they first need to have a diathesis for schizophrenia meaning that they carry biological risk factors that make them more likely to develop schizophrenia. but having a diathesis isn’t enough.a person only develops schizophrenia if, in addition to their diathesis, they experience stress in their environment like family conflict.

Question 6

the ….. diathesis and stress a person has, the more likely they are to develop schizophrenia. but if a person doesn’t have a diathesis for schizophrenia or they don’t experience stress, then they ….. develop schizophrenia

Answer 6

the more diathesis and stress a person has, the more likely they are to develop schizophrenia. but if a person doesn’t have a diathesis for schizophrenia or they don’t experience stress, then they don’t develop schizophrenia.

Question 7

what is the diathesis stress model?

Answer 7

this is a model of how biological and psychological factors interact to cause schizophrenia

Question 8

limitation of the diathesis-stress model - over simplicity (james houston et al)

Answer 8

• the original diathesis stress model is oversimplified
• multiple genes in multiple combinations influence diathesis. stress also ones in many forms, including but not limited to dysfunctional parenting.
• diathesis can also be influenced by psychological factors and stress can be biological as well as psychological.
• this is shown in a study by james houston et al (2008) in which childhood sexual abuse emerged as the major influence on underlying vulnerability to schizophrenia and cannabis use as the major trigger. this means that there are multiple factors, both biological and psychological, affecting both diathesis and stress, supporting the modern understanding of both diathesis and stress

Question 9

strength of the interactionist approach - treatments (nicholas tarrier et al)

Answer 9

• one strength is the combinations of biological and psychological treatments
• studies show that combing treatments enhances their effectiveness.
• nicholas terrier et al (2004) randomly allocated 315 participants to:
  1) medication + cbt
  2) medication + counselling
  3) control group medication only
• participants in the 2 combination groups showed lower symptoms following the trial than the medication only group, though there was no difference in hospital re admission. this means that there is a clear practical advantage to adopting an interactionist approach to schizophrenia in terms of superior treatment outcomes.

Question 10

counterpoint of treatment strength (jarvis and okami)

Answer 10

• jarvis and okami (2019) point out that saying that a successful treatment for mental disorder justifies a particular explanation is the logical equivalent of saying that because alcohol reduces shyness, shyness is caused by lack of alcohol.
• this logical error is called the treatment-causation fallacy. therefore we cannot automatically assume that the success of combined therapies means interactionist explanations are correct.

Question 11

according to the interactionist approach, what is the best solution into treating schizophrenia?

Answer 11

to combine the treatments

Question 12

combining treatments procedure

Answer 12

• first patients are given drugs to reduce their symptoms called antipsychotic drugs which reduce dopamine activity in the brain. these drugs are effective for positive symptoms. but, by themselves antipsychotic drugs are bad a treating negative symptoms and dysfunctional mental processes.
• so, patients are also given cognitive behavioural therapy.
• finally, to help treat schizophrenia and prevent a relapse of severe symptoms, we also need to remove the stressful family environment that triggered schizophrenia through family therapy.

Question 13

limitation of the interactionist approach to treatment - expensive

Answer 13

• it costs lots of money to the NHS
• therapy is often one to one with the therapist and patient and also involves multiple sessions which is expensive. as well as this, producing and paying for the medication is also costly.

Question 14

counterpoint for interactionist approach to treatment being expensive

Answer 14

if this reverts relapse and helps make people better, in the long run, it may be worth it because patients are less likely to return to work. this reduces the burden on the NHS and improves the economy.