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Psychological explanations for schizophrenia - Coggle Diagram
Psychological explanations for schizophrenia
FAMILY DYSFUNCTION
The Schizophrenogenic mother
Fromm-Reichmann 1948
proposed a psychodynamic explanation for schiz based on accounts she heard from patients about their childhoods.
she noted many patient spoke a specific type of parent, which she called the schizophrenogenic mother.
'schizophrenogenic' = 'schizophrenia-causing'. according to Fromm-Reichmann mother, the schizophrenogenic mother is cold, rejecting and controlling, and tends to create a family climate characterised by tension and secrecy.
this leads to distrust that later develops into paranoid delusions, i.e., beliefs of being persecuted by another person, and ultimately schizophrenia.
double-blind theory
Bateson et al. 1972
argued family climate is important in development of schizophrenia but emphasised role of communication style within a family
developing child may find themselves trapped in situations where they fear doing wrong, but receive mixed messages about that this is & feel unable to comment on the unfairness of this situation or seek clarification
when they get it wrong, the child's punished by withdrawal of low, leaving them with an understanding of the world as confusing and dangerous which is reflected in symptoms like disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions
Bateson was clear this was neither the main type of communication in the family of someone with schiz nor the only factor in developing schiz, just a RF
expressed emotion
Another family variable associated with schizophrenia is a negative emotional climate, or more specifically, a high degree of ‘expressed emotions’.
Expressed emotion is a family communication style that involves criticism, hostility and emotional over-involvement.
High levels of this may influence relapse rates, or the onset of schizophrenia in a vulnerable person.
The negative emotional climate in these families arouses the patient and leads to stress beyond his or her already impaired coping mechanisms, triggering a schizophrenic episode.
Evaluation of Family Dysfunction
Research support
:
P: there's evidence linking family dysfunction to schiz
E: Read et al. 2005: adults with schiz are disproportionately likely to have insecure attachment. 69% of women & 59% of men with schiz have a history of psychical +/or sexual abuse.
Morkved et al. 2017: most adults with schiz reported at least 1 childhood trauma
E: strength - strongly suggests family dysfunction makes people more vulnerable to schiz
Explanations lack support
:
P: poor evidence base for any of the explanations
E: almost no evidence has been found to support the schizophrenogenic mother or double-bind theory, only based on clinical observations & personality descriptors of mothers
E: weakness - means family explanations have not been able to account for the link between childhood trauma and schiz
COGNITIVE EXPLANATIONS
Dysfunctional thinking
a cog exp for any phenomenon is one which focuses on role of mental processes.
schiz is associated with several types of
dysfunctional though processing
and these can provide possible explanation for schiz as a whole
schiz is characterised by disruption to normal thought processing which can be seen in many of its symptoms
reduced thought processing in the
ventral striatum
is associated with negative symptoms, whilst reduced processing of info in the
temporal
and
cingulate gyri
is associated with
hallucinations
this lower than usual level if info processing suggests cognition is likely impaired
Metarepresentation dysfunction
Frith et al. 1992
identified 2 kinds of dysfunction thought processes, the first is metarepresentation, the cog ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour.