Psychological explanations of schizophrenia? Flashcards
(18 cards)
What is the cognitive explanation for schizophrenia?
Dysfunctional thought processing, thinking differently than those without the disorder.
This includes metarepresentation and central control.
Define metarepresentation in the context of schizophrenia.
Inability to reflect on one’s own thoughts or recognize them, leading to hallucinations and delusions.
What is central control in schizophrenia?
Inability to suppress automatic processes to perform deliberate processes, causing interference in speech processing.
How does lack of self-monitoring affect schizophrenic symptoms?
Thoughts and ideas are attributed to external sources, leading to hallucinations and delusions.
What is egocentric bias in schizophrenia?
Perceiving oneself as the center of events, leading to false conclusions about external events.
True or False: Schizophrenics may think others are hiding the truth about their hallucinations.
True.
What was the focus of Joshua et al.’s 2009 research?
Comparison of response initiation and suppression in schizophrenics, bipolar patients, and healthy controls using the Hayling Sentence Completion Test.
List the three main ways family dysfunction is defined.
- High levels of interpersonal conflict
- Difficulty communicating
- Being excessively critical or controlling
What does double bind theory suggest?
Contradictory messages from parents lead to a lack of coherent reality construction in schizophrenics.
Define expressed emotion (EE).
A family communication style that is critical or hostile, linked to hallucinations and delusions.
What were the findings of Tienari et al. (2004) regarding adopted children of schizophrenic mothers?
Healthy families had a 5.8% chance of schizophrenia; dysfunctional families had a 36.8% chance.
List one strength of psychological explanations of schizophrenia.
- Supported by Joshua et al. (2009) and Tienari et al. (2004)
- Cognitive therapies impact treatment
- Accounts for positive and negative symptoms
- Family therapies reduce expressed emotions and relapse rates
What is a limitation regarding cause and effect in psychological explanations of schizophrenia?
Uncertainty whether faulty thinking is a cause or effect of schizophrenia.
What does the diathesis-stress model suggest?
A combination of biological and psychological factors may explain the varying nature of schizophrenia.
What is the critique about the nomothetic approach in psychological explanations of schizophrenia?
Assumes uniform response to hostile environments, ignoring individual coping strategies.
True or False: Dysfunction only plays a role in maintaining behavior and does not cause schizophrenia onset.
True.
What ethical issues arise from attributing schizophrenia to family dysfunction?
Parents may feel responsible for their child’s illness, causing greater stress and anxiety.
What is the issue with retrospective concepts like family dysfunction?
Disturbing behavior may be the cause or effect of family dysfunction.
