Social explanation 2 - Dysfunctional Families Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is the A01 Content?
- Double bind theory (Bateson)
- Expressed emotion (Brown)
- Family interventions (Pharaoh)
What does the double bind theory suggest about communication in schizophrenic families?
They have an abnormal and inadequate pattern of communication.
What did Bateson suggest?
That families of schizophrenics communicate in a destructively ambiguous fashion. E,g mother will tell she loves them but in a tone that doesn’t suggest love.
What does the double bind theory argue is the cause of schizophrenia?
The way that the parents or other family interact with the individual, if they are exposed to a certain communication they can’t respond logically to others.
What is paralanguage?
Tone of voice, body language, facial expression.
How may paralanguage conflict words?
There words may express something that they want to do but their paralanguage may suggest otherwise. The child may receive conflicting messages that contradict each other. They can’t win and are in a double bind.
How would this affect a child’s development?
They grow up unsure how to communicate properly and struggle to form relationships.
How did Bateson suggest this causes schizophrenic symptoms.
Argued that symptoms like hallucinations and disordered thinking become apparent as the child attempts to escape the conflicting messages. They may also believe that everything everyone says has a hidden meaning and all statements should be understood literally.
What is expressed emotion and what are the behaviours associated with it?
Expressed emotion is when families show a high level of criticism, hostility and emotional over protractedness.
What did Kavangh do and find?
He found that schizophrenics who were within a home of high expressed emotion were much more likely to relapse than those who live with low expressed emotion families.
What did Brown do and find?
He studied schizophrenic patients released from hospital and their likelihood to relapse. He interviewed families and measured levels of expressed emotion. He found that families with high expressed emotion were more likely to relapse compared to families with low expressed emotion.
What is ‘critical comments’ and how may high EE families use them?
They are negative or disapproving remarks about the patients behaviour or character e.g., your so lazy you never help around the house.
What is hostility and how may high EE families use it?
Open anger rejection or blame being directed at the patient e.g., your the reason our family is falling apart.
What is emotional over involvement and how may high EE families use it?
Excessive concern or over protectedness about the patients condition e.g., I can’t sleep at night because I worry about you constantly.
What should family interventions include?
- Forming an alliance with the acres
- Reduce family stress and burden
- Help family members solve problems
- Decrease anger and guilt in the family
- Set realistic expectations for the patients.
- Encourage boundaries but allow independence
- Promote positive changes in their behaviour.
What did Pharaoh et al find about family interventions?
Reviewed 53 randomised controlled trials and concluded that the family intervention decreased both the frequency of relapse and reduced hospital admissions.
Evaluation - Double bind, Cause and effect
Argue that the communication pattern may not be a cause of schizophrenia but rather an effect of living with a child with the illness. A study showed that there was no difference in pattern of communication between 11 families living with someone with the illness and 11 that were not. Any difference that is found in studies is just parents having to adapt to living with a schz child rather than what causes the illness.
Evaluation - Where do double bind communications come from?
The double bind theory does not explain where these faulty communications come from, a theory has suggested that family disruption e.g., stress may lead to double bind communications however, there is little scientific evidence to support this. The communication may be a symptom of mental illness within the parent therefore the illness could be the issue. More research into the origin of these dysfunctional patterns is required.
Evaluation - Research support for expressed emotion
Early research has shown support for the role of EE in relapse rates. Researchers found that 53% of those with schz who had a high EE relative relapsed within 9months whereas low EE was 12%. Although not all research is consistent.
Evaluation - Shared environment or shared genes
It could be argued that the communication issues within the family are a trigger for a schizophrenic gene that lays within that family rather than the communication itself. There has been experiments that show specific genes are related to schizophrenia and as genes are passed in families this could explain the pattern shown in experiments. This would support a diathesis stress model explanation.
