Psychological Explanations of Schizophrenia

Discuss research in biological explanations of schizophrenia In order for schizophrenia to be diagnosed the person needs to have two or more of the following symptoms for over 6 months. These are; thought disturbances (positive= bizarre additions to normal behaviour) such as thought insertion, hallucinations and delusions. (negative= absence of normal behaviour) Disturbances of affect/volition such as withdrawal, reduced motivation and difficulty carrying out actions. Thirdly; Psychomotor disturbances such catatatonia, stereotypy and frenetic activity. Research into psychological explanations of schizophrenia had come up with the idea that expressed emotions in families can have considerable affect. This states that families who had high expressed emotion had higher levels of concern or hostility to the sufferer of schizophrenia. This argues that high expressed emotion families can cause schizophrenia. This gives the assumption that schizophrenia can be partly caused by the onset of stress caused by families. This could result from conflicting demands and breakdown in communication with family. This can explain how a child can become confused and doubtful from parents giving conflicting demands. For example a child could be criticised for not giving hugs, when the child tries to give a hug it will be rejected. In this situation the child can not win and can not avoid

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Medicine and Dentistry
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Describe and evaluate one or more biological explanations of schizophrenia

Describe and evaluate one or more biological explanations of schizophrenia Research has shown that schizophrenia is heredity and can runs in families. This suggests that genes play a significant role. The closer the genetic relationship the more likely the people are to share the disorder. Evidence from family studies by Gottesman showed that when bothparent are schizophrenic then there is a 46% chance of the child getting it, however, if only one parent had it, it dropped to 17%. This suggests that a genetic factor is involved. MZ twins share 100% of their genes; DZ twins share 50% of their genes. If genes are a factor we would expect more identical twins to share the disorder than non-identical. Gottesman also looked at twin studies, he found that that the average concordance rate for monozygotic twins is 46% whereas is it only 14% in dizygotic twins. This was because MZ twins were more similar in their genetics. These results were also supported by a study by Cardno et al which used strict diagnostic criteria they showed concordance rate of 26.5% for MZ twins, but only 0% for DZ twins. This provides strong evidence for a genetic component. However there are many issues with this kind of research MZ twins are very rare and of these only 1% would be expected to have schizophrenia, so sample size in these studies are usually small, because only a select number of families

  • Word count: 1818
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Discuss Psychological Explanations of Schizophrenia

Psychological explanations of schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder as it often involves a loss of contact with reality and a lack of self insight. Schizophrenia has a large number of clinical characteristics. Some of these are Thought control, delusions of passivity, control and influence, and hallucinatory voices. Other symptoms may include catatonic behaviour, incoherent speech and general negativity about the self. Research states, according to family theories, that schizophrenia is a consequence of maladaptive behaviour and poor communication within the family. Bateson suggested the "double-bind" hypothesis, where children are given conflicting messages from parents who express care, yet at the same time appear critical, which was thought to lead to confusion, self-doubt and withdrawal. Litz et al (1965) also coined the term "marital schism", to explain an abnormal family pattern where conflict between parents was associated with schizophrenia in offspring. However, these theories were based on methodologically flawed studies. One major problem was that families were studied retrospectively, long after the persons mental disorders may have affected the family. Also, these studies did not include control groups and used poorly operationalized definitions of schizophrenia. Also, ethical implications are possible using such explanations of schizophrenia.

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia

Discuss research in biological explanations of schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder involving loss of contact with reality and a range of symptoms. One biological explanation for schizophrenia is that genetic factors are involved. This view considers that certain individual's posses certain genes which predispose an individual to schizophrenia. Furthermore the condition can be inherited and as a result we would expect to find that relatives have similar chances of developing the disorder. One other biological explanation for schizophrenia is the Viral Hypothesis. This states that schizophrenia is a mental deterioration at an early age. In other words brain damage at the time or before the time of birth could be a factor in the development of schizophrenia. They have enlarged ventricles in their brain and post-mortems have found that their brains are lighter. There certainly evidence that supports that we can inherit a disposition for schizophrenia through genetic causes. Research to prove this comes twin studies of MZ and DZ twins. Gottesman and Shields found a higher concordance rate of MZ twins both having the disorder than DZ twins who only share 50% of their genes, although the concordance rate was not 100%. This certainly highlights the huge influence genetics have on inheriting the condition however, if genetics were the sole cause we would expect

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia

SC1 There is strong evidence that biological factors play a large part in the development of schizophrenia. It has been known for a long time that sch runs in families. This could be because families share the same disadvantaged environments, but research evidence from family, twin and adoption studies suggests that genetic factors are also important. First-degree relatives share an average of 50 per cent of their genes with each other, while second degree relatives share only 25 percent. Research evidence has looked to see if there is a correlational link between inheriting schizophrenia and genetic similarity. Kendler et al (1985) found that first-degree relatives of schizophrenics are 18 times more likely to contract the disorder than the general population. Family studies are often inconclusive because they are conducted retrospectively, after people have been diagnosed. Therefore we can question the reliability of findings, as the relationship between genetic similarity and susceptibility to schizophrenia is not fully clear; a longitudinal study would be better However, a longitudinal study of this nature would be hard and very time consuming to conduct. Twin studies are another way of establishing a genetic link; they look at the difference in concordance between MA and DZ twins. Cardno et al (1999) found a 40 per cent concordance rate of sch in MZ twins, compared

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Bio explanations of schizophrenia

Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia One biological explanation for schizophrenia is that genetic factors are involved. This view considers that certain individuals possess certain genes which predispose an individual to schizophrenia. This can be explained in more detail using studies on twins. According to research identical twins are said to share 100% of their genes and therefore if one twin has schizophrenia, there's a 48% chance of the other twin developing it too. Gottesman summarised 40 twin studies and found that the concordance rate for MZ twins was 48% and the concordance rate for DZ twins was about 17%. Concordance rates were also studied by Cardano et al using the Maudsley twin register. They found concordance rates to be 40% for MZ twins and 17% for DZ twins. This provides strong evidence in which genetic factors play a key role in schizophrenia. However because concordance rates are not 100%, it is said that there must be some kind of environmental input. Loehlin and Nicholas argued that the reason for higher concordance rates in MZ rather than DZ twins was due to DZ twins being treated more similarly so therefore producing a greater environmental similarity. Nevertheless because schizophrenia has chances of becoming inherited, we would expect to find that relatives also have similar chances of developing this disorder. This is supported by Kendler et al

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Psychological Explanations for Schizophrenia

Psychological explanations Biological factors alone cannot account for the origin and maintenance of schizophrenia and therefore psychological explanations look at other important contributory factors shown through psychodynamic views, family models and cognitive models. According to one psychodynamic view, schizophrenia arises from the inability to test reality for instance, draw up logical conclusions and to be able to distinguish between the internal and external world. It is also said that childhood experiences can then lead to the unconscious conflict within the ego, id and super-ego which can contribute to schizophrenia. Although this approach provides us with an alternative explanation to schizophrenia, it is very weak. This is a retrospective approach to studying schizophrenia which means overtime memory fades and therefore reports back to childhood cannot be completely reliable. Also by being a retrospective approach it overemphasises childhood. Childhood may have a large impact on schizophrenia but what it fails to consider is recent events. For instance, the Diathesis-Stress Model suggests that schizophrenia can occur due to stressful life events that could trigger psychotic symptoms. Perhaps recent events that cause stress are a more important factor rather than childhood. Lastly, the approach focuses on the unconscious which is difficult to falsify

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Psychological explanations of schizophrenia

Psychological explanations of schizophrenia Freud believed that schizophrenia was the result of 2 related processes, regression of the pre ego state, attempts to re-establish control of the ego. If the world of a schizophrenic is harsh e.g. the had cold and uncaring parents they may regress a stage of development before ego was properly formed. And before they develop a realistic awareness of external world, thus leads them to an infantile state. AO2, No empirical evidence to support this, except psychoanalysis Support comes from Reichmann et al, who described schizophrenic mothers as uncaring, dominant, and stated that theses mothers behave rather differently Behavioural explanation Symptoms of schizophrenic due to faulty leaning, as liberman said "due to child receiving little or no social reinforcement in early life due to parental disinterest. Makes child behave in a deviant way and focus on irrelevant environmental cues. E.g. the sound of a word rather than its meaning, thus making a person seem abnormal, as this would affect a person verbal and physical behaviour AO2 Supported by the success of behavioural therapies, used in treating schizophrenia. Support comes from roder who found that social skills training helps schizos gain social skills, as they were able to interact with wider community. Cognitive Suggest a diathesis relationship as further

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Psychological explanations of schizophrenia

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia (SZ) There are many suggestions that Schizophrenia can be caused by certain psychological factors and stressors. E.g. the more stressful an event the more likely that someone will develop schizophrenic symptoms. Other reasons can be social or cognitive. It is thought that SZ occurs more in people of lower socio-economic stature and this can be explained in 2 ways: low economic status itself has been said to cause high levels of stress due to the poor living conditions and struggle to survive, making those who have the potential to get schizophrenia more likely to show symptoms. It is said that this view is reductionist as it doesn’t take into account the biological factors also even though there is evidence supporting the claims that acute stress can inhibit SZ it is unlikely that Social class and economic stature is the sole cause and it is more likely to be just a contributing factor. It can also be defined with the social drift hypothesis which is where people with SZ can no longer cope with jobs and relationships so drift down the socioeconomic hierarchy. However in 1990 Fox produced a meta-analysis from studies by him and other professionals and found no conclusive evidence for the drift theory. Family relationships are also thought to help develop SZ. Fromm Reichmann (1948) created the term ‘Schizophrenogenic

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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Discuss biological explanations of schizophrenia

'Research into schizophrenia shows that there is a major genetic component but the fact that concordance rates between identical twins is never 100% means that there must be environmental contributions.' Discuss biological explanations of schizophrenia. (30 marks) Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder involving the loss of contact with reality and a range of symptoms. There is considerable evidence that genetic factors are involved. This view considers that certain individuals possess certain genes which predispose them to schizophrenia. This means that it is inherited and we would expect to find that relatives have similar chances of developing the disorder. Indeed research has found that first degree relatives of people with schizophrenia are 18 times more likely to be affected than the general population. Monozygotic twins would be expected to have the same chance of having schizophrenia as they carry the same genes. Research by Gottesman and Shields has found high concordance rates (where both twins have the disorder) in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic. However if schizophrenia was solely caused by genes then we would expect a 100% concordance in monozygotic twins. Since this is not found then other factors must play a part. Mz twin studies have the advantage of controlling for genetics but the disadvantage of not controlling for environment. One way to get

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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