Psychological Explanations For Sz Flashcards
(15 cards)
Whats meant by family dysfunction
-Abnormal processes within a family , such as poor communication, cold parenting , + high levels of expressed emotion
-could be risk factors for both development + maintenance for Sz
Describe the schizophrenogenic mother
-psychiatrist Freida proposed psychodynamic expl for Sz based on accounts she heard from patients about childhoods
-Fromm-reichman said many patients spoke of a particular type of parent (schizophrenogenic mother)
-described as cold, rejecting + controlling
-tends to create family climate of tension, secrecy
-leads to distrust , later develops into paranoid delusions + ultimately Sz
Describe the double blind theory
-Bateson agreed family climate is imp in development of Sz , but emphasised role of communication style within family
-developing child regularly finds themselves trapped in situations, fearing they’re doing the wrong tibng , yet receive mixed messages about what this is (parents at express care but at same time appear critical)
-can also relate to contradiction between persons verbal behaviour and non verbal behaviour
-they feel unable to comment on the unfairness of the situation ,or seek clarification
-when they ‘get it wrong’ the child is punished by withdrawal of love
-leaves them understanding the world as confusing and dangerous
-reflects in symptoms such as disorganised thinking + paranoid delusions , an incoherent version of reality and also a flattening of affect due to mixed messages
(Eg mother goes to hug her daughter but stiffens when they actually embrace)
-Bateson made clear this was only a risk factor and not the only factor in developing sz
Describe expressed emotion as part of family dysfunction
-level of emotion , in particular -ve, expressed towards a person with Sz by their carers
-contains several elements :
*verbal criticism , accompanied by violent often
*hostility including anger/rejection
*emotional overinvolvement in persons life, including needless self sacrifice
-these high levels of EE directed causes serious source of stress
-primarily an explanation for relapse in people w sz , however also has been suggested it may be source of stress to trigger onset of sz in one who’s already vulnerable
Eg due to genetic makeup (diathesis stress model)
Whats a strength of the explanations of family dysfunction and its link to sz
Indicators of fam dys incl insecure attachment + exposure to childhood trauma ,abuse
According to review by Read et al adults w Sz disproportionately likely to have insecure attachment , type C or D particularly
He also reported 69% women 59% men w Sz have history of physical/sexual abuse
In morkved et al study, most adults with sz reported at least one childhood trauma , mostly abuse
Strongly suggests family dysfunction does make people more vulnerable to sz
Whats a limitation of family explanation and the poor evidence bas for any of the explanations
Even tho there is plenty of evidence to support idea that childhood family based stress is associated with adult sz , almost no evidence to support important of traditional family based theories such as schizophrenogenic mother + double bind
Both theories based on clinical observation of ppl w sz + also informal assessment of their mothers personalities , but not systematic evidence
Means that family explanations haven’t been able to account for link between childhood trauma and sz
Whats a further evaluation point for the family explanation to sz
Despite early explanations for family-sz link having X research support, research in this area may be useful in showing insecure attachment + experience of childhood trauma affect individual vulnerability to sz
But, research linking family dysfunction to sz is highly socially sensitive as can lead to parent blaming
Mothers usually blamed
For parents having to watch their child experience symptoms of sz, take responsibility for their care, but then be blamed adds insult to the injury , so should be treated very cautiously as a theory
Whats meant by the cognitive explanation
-focus on mental processes such as thinking, language, attention
Outline what is meant by dysfunctional thinking
-sz is associated with several types of dysfunctional thinking processing
-characterised by disruption to normal thought processing can be seen in many of its symptoms
-reduced thought processing in ventral striatum = associated w -ve symptoms
-reduced information processing in temporal and cingulate gyri associated with hallucinations
-these suggest cognition is impaired as X representing reality accurately , producing undesirable consequences
What are the 2 types of dysfunctional thought processes identified
-meta representation dysfunction
-central control dysfunction
Outline metarepresentation dysfunction as a cognitive explanation
-Frith et al identified
-cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour
-allows insight into our own intentions and goals and interpret the actions of others
-dysfunction here disrupts our ability to recognise our own thoughts/actions being carried out by ourselves
-explains for hallucinations (hearing voices) and delusions (thought insertion-experience of having thoughts projected into our minds by others)
Whats a limitation of cognitive explanations in that they only explain proximal origins of symptoms
We know there’s a clear link between symptoms and faulty cognition , but only proximal because they explaining what is NOW happening to produce symptoms
distinct from distal explanations which focuses on what initially causes the conditions
Whats currently X well addressed is how genetic variations or childhood trauma may lead to problems w metarepresentation or central control
Cognitive theories on own only provide partial explanation , and more conclusive research is needed
Outline central control dysfunction as a cognitive explanation
What evidence is there for dysfunctional thought processing
Stirling compared performance of diff cognitive tasks in 30 Sz people , and control group of 30 without
Involved the stroop task (p/s have to name front-colours of colour-words ,so must suppress tendency to read words aloud)
Predicted by Friths central control theory, Sz people took twice as long on average
So have difficulty suppressing automatic responses as cognitive processes are impaired
Whats a further evaluation point for the cognitive explanations
It provides a good argument +explanation for symptoms of Sz , can be seem Sz is primarily a psychological condition
But it appears abnormal cognition is partly genetic , and result of abnormal brain development
So this would suggest Sz is a biological condition
Might be useful to combine 2 explanations together for better understanding
