schizophrenia - individual: psychodynamic

Question 1

unscientific

Answer 1

P: Many of the Freudian concepts are out of date and unscientific
E: The concepts of the id, ego and superego are unfalsifiable as we aren’t able to locate a physical ‘id’ in someone’s brain in a precise and testable way. We also can’t falsify the concept of regression either
T: Therefore this lowers the validity and reliability of this explanation for schizophrenia, which in-turn lowers the credibility of this field of psychology
C: This low reliability is further proven by Freud himself who says that “it remains for the future to decide whether there is more delusion in my theory than I should like to admit”

Question 2

holistic

Answer 2

P: one strength of the psychodynamic explanation for Schiozphrenia is that it reflects the complexity of the psychotic disorder of schizophrenia by offering a holistic explanation
E: evidence comes from Freud’s suggestion that people lose touch with reality when stress causes them to regress them back to the oral stage (pre-ego state), so they may start showing symptoms like delusions. They even suggest the mother-child relationship may cause schizophrenia if she is overprotective and controlling.
T: therefore this is a benefit because the explanation is assessing multiple factors in the creation of schizophrenia and how they all work together, which would not be possible by observing individual pieces. This matters because it’s important to know how stress causes schizophrenia so that we can develop treatments to prevent schizophrenia happening as a response to stress so that people have healthier minds
C: however, it is important to consider that taking this broad perspective can make scientific testing difficult, as it is hard to isolate the individual components that cause schizophrenia, like a schizophrenogenic mother, to test if that variable is directly impacting behaviour

Question 3

not useful

Answer 3

P: The explanation is useless due to ineffective treatments. Modern day psychodynamic psychologists use psychoanalysis as treatment, which aims to make the unconscious conscious so that people gain insight. However schizophrenics lack insight, so therefore can’t be treated this way
E: Strupp et al (1977) found that psychoanalysis would be more harmful then beneficial because it requires accessing memories and insights that they are incapable of dealing with and will cause too much distress, which is unethical
T: Therefore this is a problem because it doesn’t improve the quality of life for schizophrenics and damages the reputation of Freudian psychology
C: this idea of ineffective treatment becomes more apparent when compared to other treatments such as antipsychotics or CBT, which lends a more valid explanation of schizophrenia due to their apparent usefulness