Discuss issues associated with the classification and/or diagnosis of schizophrenia

Discuss issues associated with the classification and/or diagnosis of schizophrenia One of the issue associated with the diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia is reliability.Reliability is how consistant a measurement is e.g the ICD and the DSM when diagnosis or classifiying schizophrenic patients.Reliability can be measured by inter rater reliability where they see if two independant sources come to the same diagnosis or classification or retest reliability where they see if the test used are consistant over time .Although psychologists say that DSM 3 is reliable , there is strong evidence that shows that reliability of the DSM is low when using inter-rater reliability.Whaley(2001) only found a small positive correlation between the different assesors.This is evidence of low reliability when using the DSM to diagnose schizophrenia ,however the test-retest reliability studies have shown more positive results which means that there is some sort of reliability with the DSM. Another issue surronding the diagnosis and classfication of schizophrenia is the cultral differences in diagnosis e.g A research study by Copeland et al (1971) compared 134 US psychiatrists and 194 British psychiatrists in their diagnosis of a patient, and found that 69% of the US psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia compared with only 2% of the British psychiatrists. This suggests that there is

  • Word count: 523
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Discuss the influences of childhood on adult relationships

Many psychologists would agree that childhood experiences can shape later adult relationships. One researcher that studied this was Shaver. They claimed that our infant relationships shape our adult relationships in 3 ways; attachment, caregiving and sexuality. Attachment suggests that later relationships are a continuation of early attachment types, with possible attachment disorders forming. Through caregiving, our knowledge of caring is learnt by modelling the behaviour of our primary care giver. And the sexuality system is learnt, e.g. avoidant attachment styles are more likely to view sex without love as pleasurable. Hazen and Shaver tested ‘is love in adulthood directly related to attachment type as a child?’ they conducted a love quiz. Participants based their answers using experiences from previous love relationships and infant care attachments. They found that 64% had a secure attachment, and that childhood experiences within their family will repeat in their adult lives. However this theory can be criticised for being reductionist as it doesn’t factor social or cultural influences in later life that may lead to adapting and improving on any childhood deficits. The theory states that our early experiences set in stone our later ones, but this is not the case as it’s far more complex than this, shaped by more than just attachment styles. As we have free

  • Word count: 789
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Eating Disorders

Samantha Proctor 12 Ward Psychology Essay Outline and evaluate the psychological explanation of one or more eating disorders (18 marks) There are various explanations of eating disorders, both regarding anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Psychological explanations of anorexia nervosa include the psychodynamic approach, that is Freud's theory that eating substituted sexual activity, therefore acting as a means of repressing sexual thoughts and desires and to reduce sexual maturity. Starvation in adolescence acts as a means of halting the development of an adult body, restricting food can lead to the prevention of menstruation and the development of breasts and enlarged hips (secondary sexual characteristics). Thus, an adolescent is attempting to prevent their adulthood. Bruch (1980) suggested a more recent psychodynamic explanation which was that it may be poor parenting and a struggle for autonomy cause anorexia. This suggests that the origins of anorexia are found within early childhood. It may be that the Mother (or primary caregiver) did not respond adequately to the needs of her child. By doing so, this could lead to the child becoming more self-reliant and more sensitive to criticism from other people. In adolescence the conflicts between maternal dependence and the wish of the child for independence results in anorexia acting as a means of exerting self-control.

  • Word count: 1706
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Outline and evaluate the psychodynamic approach to psychopathology

Outline and evaluate the psychodynamic approach to psychopathology The psychodynamic approach focuses on the dynamics of mind. Sigmund Freud developed an approach on abnormality, that highlighted how human personality and psychosexual development in childhood can cause abnormality. Freud proposed that the human personality is made up of three interacting elements: the id, the ego and the super ego. The id is our unconscious it releases natural pleasure seeking instincts and operates to satisfy these instincts through pleasurable activities. The ego represents our conscious self, it tries to balance the id with moral rules proposed by the superego. The superego is our moral authority this developed through identification of our parents moral rules and the social norms of society. If the ego fails to balance the id and the superego this can lead to conflict and may result in a psychological disorder. If the id is not balanced by the ego and it becomes dominate this can lead to destructive tendencies and adverse pleasurable behaviour. However, if the superego becomes dominate an individual may be unable to experience any form of pleasurable gratification. Freud believed that because we are born with the id and the ego and superego is something we develop in early childhood, then conflicts are likely to arise whilst the ego and superego are still underdeveloped. This made

  • Word count: 597
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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"Attempts to define abnormality are always limited by cultural differences" - Consider how definitions of abnormality may be influenced by cultural differences.

"Attempts to define abnormality are always limited by cultural differences" * Consider how definitions of abnormality may be influenced by cultural differences (18m) All of the definitions of abnormality that we have studied, have been culturally specific, meaning that, what may possibly be classed as normal in one culture, could be classed as extremely abnormal to another. This problem of cultural relativism limits the definitions accuracy in being able to define abnormality as a whole. It is near impossible to make an absolute statement about what is normal, or abnormal in human behaviour, purely because of cultural factors. The four definitions we studied do not take cultural differences into account. The Statistical Infrequency definition groups people together, based on certain measured characteristics, and put this information into a distribution pattern to classify whether people fit into the 'average', or whether they fall outside the average, where they are then deemed to be abnormal. However, only certain characteristics can be measured, and this also put forth the question of - which characteristics show abnormality? This definition groups people together, and deals with statistics, making the results broad and inconclusive. There is also the problem of desirability in some of the factors, where something that could possibly be seen as abnormal, is admired,

  • Word count: 937
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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