Psychological explanations for schizophrenia Flashcards
(28 cards)
What does the family dysfunction explanation suggest about schizophrenia?
That abnormal family relationships and communication patterns contribute to the disorder
What is a schizophrenogenic mother?
A cold, rejecting, and controlling mother thought to cause schizophrenia in her children
Who proposed the schizophrenogenic mother theory?
Fromm-Reichmann
What are the main features of a schizophrenogenic family?
High conflict, lack of empathy, and emotional over-involvement
What is double-bind theory?
A theory where children receive contradictory messages, leading to confusion and paranoid delusions
Who developed the double-bind theory?
Bateson et al.
What is the long-term effect of double-bind communication?
The child learns to distrust their perceptions, contributing to disordered thinking
What is expressed emotion (EE)?
The level of criticism, hostility, and emotional over-involvement expressed by family members
How is high expressed emotion linked to schizophrenia?
It increases the risk of relapse in individuals with schizophrenia
What are the three main elements of expressed emotion?
Criticism, hostility, and emotional over-involvement
What is the main issue with using family dysfunction as an explanation?
It may blame parents and lacks clear causal evidence
What kind of evidence supports family dysfunction theories?
Retrospective reports and observational studies
What is a limitation of using retrospective accounts in schizophrenia research?
They may be unreliable due to memory distortion or bias
What is meant by dysfunctional thought processing?
Ineffective information processing that leads to symptoms like delusions and hallucinations
What do cognitive explanations focus on in schizophrenia?
Faulty mental processes and thinking patterns
What are two key cognitive impairments seen in schizophrenia?
Dysfunctional attention and meta-representation
How does poor meta-representation relate to schizophrenia?
It may explain hallucinations, as individuals misattribute their own thoughts to external sources
What is meta-representation?
The ability to reflect on thoughts and intentions of oneself and others
How does impaired central control relate to schizophrenia?
It may cause disorganised speech and derailment due to inability to suppress irrelevant thoughts
What is central control?
The ability to suppress automatic responses and think flexibly
What is the cognitive explanation for delusions?
Biased thinking leads to faulty conclusions despite contrary evidence.
What is the cognitive explanation for auditory hallucinations?
Misattributing internal thoughts as coming from an external source
Which researcher developed a cognitive model of positive symptoms?
Frith
What is the “attention deficit theory”?
Suggests schizophrenics cannot filter out irrelevant stimuli, leading to sensory overload
