The psychological explanations

1
Schizophrenia

• The psychological explanations

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Psychodynamic approach

• Freud argued that conflicts and traumas are
  important in the development of schizophrenia.
• Schizophrenics have regressed to a state of
  primary narcissism.
• In this state the ego has not separated from the
  id.
• As a result schizophrenics cannot interact with
  reality as their ego does not function properly

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EVALUATION OF PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

• It is very speculative, and is not supported by
  much evidence.
• The notion that adult schizophrenics resemble
  infants in many ways is not very sensible.
• The psychodynamic approach ignores the role of
  genetic factors.

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The behavioural approach

• Early experiences of punishment may lead children
  to retreat into a rewarding inner world. This
  leads to the child being given labels such as
  odd.
• According to Scheffs labelling theory,
  individuals who have been labelled as odd or
  peculiar may continue to act in ways that
  conform to these labels.

5
BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH

• The bizarre behaviour may be rewarded through
  attention and sympathy (a secondary gain).
• The bizarre behaviour becomes increasingly
  exaggerated, and is eventually labelled as
  schizophrenia.

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Constant reinforcement
Punishment
Withdrawal
Labelled as odd
Reinforced by attention
Conforming to label
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Evaluation

• Schizophrenics often respond to reinforcement
  when used in therapy. For example, schizophrenics
  have learned to make beds, and comb their own
  hair when rewarded for doing so (Ayllon and
  Azrin)
• Ignores genetic evidence
• Trivialises a very serious disorder.

8
Social factors

• Interpersonal communication (Bateson et al.s
  double-bind theory)
• Expressed emotion
• Stress
• The social causation hypothesis
• This hypothesis was designed to explain why it is
  that schizophrenics tend to belong to the lower
  social classes

9
DOUBLE BIND THEORY

• BATESON 1956- a factor causing Schizophrenia is
  the destructive communication of family members
• A mother may tell a child
• she loves him/her, but her
• tone of voice is not loving

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EVALUATION

• MISHCLER AND WAXLER propose the opposite of
  double bind theory
• They proposed that the presence of a
  Schizophrenic in a household causes the
  communication problems
• Evidence from this comes from the fact that
  mothers, when talking to their schizophrenic
  daughters were aloof and unresponsive, but
  interact normally with their non-schizophrenic
  daughters

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SOCIAL CAUSATION HYPOTHESIS

• Schizophrenia is 8x more common amongst people of
  lower social class
• They tend to have more stressful lives because of
  poverty, unemployment, poorer health, and
  discrimination
• Higher stress, according to the diathersis stress
  model, makes people more vulnerable to
  Schizophrenia

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SOCIAL DRIFT HYPOTHESIS

• This proposes that people who develop
  Schizophrenia are more likely to lose their jobs
  and so social status is reduced.
• So Schizophrenia reduces social status
• If this is the case, then Schizophrenics should
  belong to a lower social class than their parents
• TURNER AND WAGENFELD found that fathers of
  Schizophrenics tended to belong to lower social
  classes
• This evidence supports social causation, not
  social drift

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STRESS

• DAY ET AL 1987 carried out a study in several
  different countries. They found that
  Schizophrenics tended to have experienced a high
  number off stressful life events a few weeks
  before the onset of the disorder

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EXPRESSED EMOTION

• Despite lack of support for Double Bind theory,
  there is evidence to show that family interaction
  does play a role in maintaining symptoms in
  Schizophrenics
• The crucial factor is the amount of expressed
  negative emotion, e.g. shouting, criticising,
  hostility

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EVIDENCE FOR EXPRESSED EMOTION

• KAVANAGH 1992 found that schizophrenics who
  live in families with high EE are four times more
  likely to relapse than those in families with low
  EE

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EVALUATION

• Cause and effect have not been established
• Does the family casue the relapse of the
  individual?
• OR
• Does the presence of the individual casue the
  expressed emotion?

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DIATHESIS STRESS MODEL

• This proposes that a mental disorder involves a
  predisposition to the disorder (biological) and a
  stressor which triggers the disorder
• There is a clear genetic link with schizophrenia
  but not everyone who inherits the gene goes on
  to develop the disorder

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TREATMENT

• If the cause of a disorder is biological, then
  the treatment should be biological
• Schizophrenia is most commonly treated with drugs
• However these provide relief, but are not a cure