Paper 3- Topic 3 Schizophrenia Flashcards
(38 cards)
State the two psychological explanations for Sz
- family dysfunction
* cognitive explanations
Define family dysfunction as a psychological explanation for Sz
the processes in family environments that may be risk factors for the development and maintenance of Sz
(e.g. cold parenting, poor communication within family and level of expressed emotion
3 explanations related to family processes for Sz
- schizophrenogenic mother
- double binds
- expressed emotion
Describe the schizophrenogenic mother and how it leads to development of Sz
- mother is cold, rejecting and controlling
- creates family tension and secrecy
- leads to distrust, leads to paranoid delusions and eventually develops Sz
Who coined the schizophrenogenic mother
• Fromm-Reichmann
-found patients with symptoms of Sz often had schizophrenogenic mothers
Describe the double bind theory to explain Sz
- emphasis on communication style in the family
- children feel trapped in situations and fear they are doing the wrong thing, but receive mixed messages
- therefore they feel unable to comment or ask for clarity on situation
- child is punished by withdrawal of love
- leads to disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions
Who coined the double binds theory
what did he suggest
Bateson
- he said it doesn’t have to be the main type of communication in the family and can still be a risk factor
- he said communication contradictions means the person struggles to create a coherent clear idea of the world’s reality
Define the the two key types of double bind communication between parents that could influence a child developing schizophrenia
who coined them
Lidz
• marital schism
- parents are emotionally distant and compete for child’s affection
• marital skew
-one parent more dominant than the other
Describe expressed emotion to explain Sz
the level of emotion showed to a patient by carers (often family members)
- high levels of negative expressed emotion acts as source of stress and may trigger relapse of Sz (or could be vulnerability in a diathesis stress model)
State the key aspects of expressed emotion that trigger relapse of Sz
- verbal criticism (can be violent)
- hostility towards person (includes anger and rejection)
- emotional over involvement (includes needless self-sacrifice)
Define needless self sacrifice
giving up something for a reason and then blaming it on the patient
(e.g. I’ve stopped book club as all my time is taken up washing your clothes)
Describe the cognitive explanation for Sz
and how is it shown
focuses on role of mental processes, particularly dysfunctional thought professing
•shown in symptoms
- reduced thought processing in ventral striatum associated with negative symptoms
- reduced processing of information in the temporal and cingulate gyri associated with hallucinations (positive symptoms)
Define dysfunctional thought processing
disrupted information processing that doesn’t represent reality accurately, causing undesirable consequences
• disrupted thought processing in ventral striatum (- symptoms) and temporal/ cingulate gyri (+ symptoms)
Who identified the two types of dysfunctional thought processes
state what they are
Frith
- metarepresentation
- central control
define metapresentation and describe the effect of dysfunction to it
• our cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviours
- allows insight into own intentions and to interpret actions of others
-Dysfunction disrupts the ability to recognise our actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else
—> explains hallucinations and delusions (like insertion- thoughts being projected in mind by others)
define central control and the effect of dysfunction to it
• cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while deliberate actions are performed
-dysfunction explains speech poverty and derailment
—> as patients are unable to suppress automatic thoughts or speech
how is the ability of the central control measured
stroop test
Define derailment of thoughts
when each word triggers associations and a person cannot suppress automatic central responses to these, as a result of faulty filter
- may result in topics changing mid sentence
Define speech poverty
deficits in fluency of spoken language
- fewer words, less grammar, reflect automatic, blocked thoughts
aka alogia
State the name of drug most commonly used to treat Sz symptoms
What do they affect
anti-psychotics
- work by reducing dopamine receptors in brain
- link to dopamine hypothesis (both too little and too much) as an explanation of Sz
Define antipsychotics
Two types of anti-psychotics
- drugs used to reduce the intensity of symptoms of Sz, particularly positive symptoms
- atypical
- typical
define psychosis
a symptom of Sz, when a person loses contact with reality
- through hallucinations or delusions
Describe typical antipsychotics
And how they affect neurotransmitters
focus solely on dopamine receptors
act as antagonists in the dopamine system
- reduce the amount of dopamine by blocking their receptors in synapses in the brain
e.g. chlorpromazine
Describe the dosage and usage of chlorpromazine
when was it used since
- taken orally as tablets syrup or injection
- gradually increase small to dose to a maximum of 400-800mg (usually)
- maximum dosage is 1000mg
used since 1950s
