Individual Differences explanation Flashcards
(36 cards)
What do the individual differences explanations focus on?
individual characteristics such as development, thought procesesses, gender, age
What are the two explanations for individual differences for schizophrenia?
The Psychodynamic Explanation and The Cognitive Explanation
According to the Psychodynamic Explanation where does abnormality come from?
a trauma from an unresolved conflict between the id, ego and superego is repressed into the conscious
How does the Psychodynamic Approach explain schizophrenia
By looking at the psychosexual stages of the development
What does Freud say about schizophrenic individuals?
they are fixated during the early stages of the oral stage of development. Later in life, if an individual experiences high levels of stress e.g uncaring parents they will regress back to the oral stage
How does the Psychodynamic explain delusionals?
At this oral stage, the ego is not fully developed so the individual is regressing back to a time when there is no ego to censor and regulate the activities or id. This can lead to a self-obsessed, narcissistic ideas of schizophrenia such as delusions of grandeur or of persecution.
How does the Psychodynamic explain hallucinations
The regression back to a new-born state also involves the loss of all attachments other than those focused on the self. The schizophrenic becomes disengaged from the world outside and entirely inward focusing. The attachments to the real world that have been lost are reinvested in a fabricated existence (hallucinations and delusional) for the schizophrenic.
How does Freud explain delusions and hallucinations?
it’s a schizophrenic’s attempt to recover a sort of normality. The need to interact with something external to oneself but combined with a distrust of all that is real leads to the necessity to create an alternative reality (hearing voices and seeing people that are not real and inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy.) In non-schizophrenic adults the ego puts a limit on fantasy activity.
What is trauma a result of?
a very harsh childhood e.g cold and unresponsive. The child becomes fixated or regresses to an earlier stage development that was safer or more comforting.
How do family relationships influence the way a growing child perceives reality?
Frieda Fromm-Reichman a Neo Freudian believed that the mother child relationship was crucial in the development of schizophrenia. A number of studies were published in the late 40s and 50s which identified issues with the mothers of children with schizophrenia. This led Fromm-Reichman to suggest that the behaviour of mothers played a key role in the onset of schizophrenia.
Explain the idea of the schizophrenogenic mother
a woman who was blamed by psychiatrists due to her poor parenting skills
-often has contradictory actions
-e.g verbally accepting yet behaviourally rejecting
-results in faulty communication between mother and child leading to onset of schizophrenia
What does the idea of the schizophrenogenic mother proposes?
that the emotional development of schizophrenia of people with schizophrenia is stifled by the behaviour of their mothers.
-mainstream thought until 1970s
Supporting Evidence (Kasanin 1934)
-examined hospital case records and found evidence of maternal overprotection in 33/45 cases of schizophrenia
Supporting Evidence What did Schofield and Balian study?
in 1959
-178 schizophrenic patients and 150 non-schizophrenics had their childhood experiences compared to see whether schizophrenics really did have more difficult childhood relationships.
What did Schofield and Balian find
no difference in the quality of the relationships between parents. However, there was significant difference in quality of maternal relationship. Patient’s mothers were less likely to be affectionate are more likely to be domineering and overprotective.
-increase validity of explanation
What threatens the validity of the psychodynamic explanation?
Difficulty in establishing causality i.e is the schizophrenogenic mother causing schizophrenia or is having a schizophrenic child causing a mother to become schizophrenogenic i.e over protective.
Alternative evidence (psychodynamic explanation)
-regarded as incomplete as alternative explanations have stronger supporting difference e.g biological explanations where schizophrenia is better understood in terms of dopamine levels of genetic factors.
Usefulness (psychodynamic explanation)
-does not have a practical application in the form of an effective treatment for schizophrenia
-Freud believed that psychoanalysis would not be appropriate for schizophrenia as individuals would not be have the insight to cope with the demands of a talking therapy.
Usefulness (Strupp 1977)
-suggested that psychoanalytic techniques are actually harmful because they require the patient to deal with the memories and insights which are emotionally difficult and upsetting for them.
-Lack of an effective therapy makes us question value of underlying principles of the psychodynamic explanation.
What is one important implication of the psychodynamic application?
Acknowledges the impact of early childhood experiences on the development of schizophrenia.
Strength because it provides a level of insight that other approaches lack focusing on the role of unconscious mind, role of id in explaining schizophrenia has provided us with a different perspective in the human mind.
Nature/Nurture
viewed as interactionist
Nature (id)
Plays a role as the schizophrenic patient regresses to a time when the ego has not yet developed to regulate the drives of id
-childhood experiences (nurture) e.g schizophrenogenic mothers have been linked to the development of schizophrenic symptoms
-holistic view could be seen as a strength of the approach as a no. Of influences on an individual are taken into account to explain schizophrenia
How is the psychodynamic explanation oversimplified?
-oversimplification of complex illness
-ignores influences of important biological factors
-some would argue approach is reductionist although less than other explanations such as the biological.
How is the psychodynamic explanation deterministic?
Behaviour is shaped by predetermined factors that we cannot consciously control or change
-mental health determined by childhood experiences and events (fixations) that occur during psychosexual stages.
-in this respect we have no free will or control over our schizophrenic symptoms.
What is the problem with determinism in the psychodynamic approach
-an over-emphasis on psychological treatments where in fact a biological treatment e.g antipsychotics might be more appropriate.
-may also make individuals who suffer from mental health problems feel that they have no control or mental health or wellbeing as they are unable to consciously control or change their childhood experiences
-feeling of hopelessness could have an impact on their recovery
-points to parents and families being cause of schizophrenia which could result in high levels of guilt and these problems clearly undermine this
