psychological explanations of schizophrenia Flashcards
(11 cards)
What is a cognitive explanation?
A cognitive explanation focuses on the role of mental processes in understanding phenomena, including schizophrenia.
What is dysfunctional thinking in schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is associated with disruptions in normal thought processing, affecting different brain areas.
What brain areas are associated with dysfunctional thought processing in schizophrenia?
The ventral striatum (linked to negative symptoms) and the temporal and cingulate gyri (linked to hallucinations).
What is metarepresentation, and how is it impaired in schizophrenia?
Metarepresentation is the ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviors. Dysfunction leads to an inability to recognize one’s thoughts as their own, causing hallucinations and delusions.
What is central control dysfunction, and how does it affect schizophrenia?
It is the inability to suppress automatic responses, leading to disorganized speech and thought disorder.
What study supports the role of dysfunctional thought processing in schizophrenia?
Stirling et al. (2006) found that people with schizophrenia took over twice as long as controls to complete the Stroop task, indicating impaired cognitive processes.
What is one strength of cognitive explanations for schizophrenia?
They are supported by research showing impaired cognitive processing in schizophrenia, such as difficulty in the Stroop task.
What is a major limitation of cognitive explanations for schizophrenia?
They only explain proximal causes (current symptoms) rather than distal causes (genetic or childhood trauma origins).
what do cognitive explanations do that give them a limitation
they explain why symptoms persist but do not clarify why schizophrenia develops in the first place
what approach is better than cognitive (lim)
it is an incomplete understanding and a more holistic approach incorporating and combining both cognitive and biological explanations may offer better understanding