Outline the cognitive explanation of depression
Cognitive explanation (12 marks – 4+8) The cognitive explanation of depression is a psychological explanation proposed by Beck. He believed that people who are depressed make fundamental errors in logic. Beck (1991) proposed that depression is rooted in three maladaptive assumptions: negative thoughts of self; of circumstances; and of the future which is known as the cognitive triad. He suggested that depressive people draw illogical conclusions which lead to a distorted reality. An example of these cognitive distortions is Magnification; the tendency to exaggerate the significance of an event and Minimisation; the tendency to underplay a positive event. Beck also does not rule out a genetic component as he also suggests that negative cognitions may be as a result of inheriting different temperaments and that traumatic events and negative treatment in childhood can create negative schemas. One of these types of negative schemas that characterise depression is sociotrophy which relates to interpersonal relationships and individuals. A strength of the cognitive explanation of depression is that it has practical applications for the treatment of depression. They have stimulated huge amounts of research that has contributed to our understanding of the disorder and how to treat it. They have given rise to one of the most effective treatment for depression – CBT. This
Outline and Evaluate One Biological and One Psychological Explanation of Schizophrenia
Outline and Evaluate One Biological and One Psychological Explanation of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterised by 'abnormal' thought processes, psychomotor problems, lack of motivation, and disturbance of affect. As a syndrome there are a variety of symptoms that fall under these categories, although they will not all be displayed in one individual. It is thought that it may be incorrect to label schizophrenia as one disorder, as it is believed to in fact be a series of separate disorders that have been placed under this overarching diagnosis. Currently there is no one explanation that can completely explain why the development of schizophrenia happens, however there are many approaches from both biological and psychological areas that attempt to explain the aetiology. One of the biological theories of schizophrenia is the Dopamine Hypothesis. This is a biochemical explanation that suggests the disorder is caused by an excess of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. The main evidence for this has come from studies on both living and post-mortem brains of sufferers from schizophrenia, and also from observations made during drug therapies. This theory acts as one explanation of how the genetic theory may work, in that certain genes that are inherited could cause an increase in dopamine production or receptor density. Originally, studies of the
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
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
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.
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
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
Discuss the biological explanation for schizophrenia taking in to account genetics and brain structure
Discuss the biological explanation for schizophrenia taking in to account genetics and brain structure Schizophrenia is a complex illness that affects people’s moods, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, behaviour and ability to communicate. Sufferers are usually withdrawn and prefer to be left alone and are not especially prone to violence. One biological explanation involves genetics to describe how schizophrenia occurs. This theory relies on twin studies, family studies and adoption studies to provide support for their opinions. Gottesman et al (1987) constructed a family study to investigate the genetic component of schizophrenia. The results showed that for closer relations, there was a higher concordance rate. This concludes that genetic factors do play a moderate role in family patterns of schizophrenia. Gottesman also reported that in twins, the concordance rate for monozygotic twins, the concordance rate was 46%, whereas the concordance rate for dizygotic twins was only 17%. Rosenthal (1963) also found a case of female schizophrenic quadruplets. This makes the evidence for a genetic basis for schizophrenia stronger. However, they only looked at three studies, which is still a very small number. We cannot base our opinions on concordance rates because they suggest that there are other factors that influence schizophrenia, therefore it can be considered quite vague.
Biological Approach to Schizophrenia
Biological approach The biological approach suggests that schizophrenia is a disorder caused by genetic abnormalities and increased biochemical levels. Schizophrenia appears to run in families and genetic studies have shown that the risk of developing schizophrenia is proportional to the amount of genes they share. The assumption is that monozygotic (MZ) twins will show a greater concordance rate than dizygotic (DZ) twins because they are genetically similar. Gottesman et al found that MZ twins had a 50% concordance rate whereas DZ twins had a rate of only 9%. These findings support the idea that there is a genetic component to schizophrenia. However, concordance rates are still below 100% which means genetics alone cannot explain schizophrenia, suggesting an alternative component. Although twin studies show a strong genetic link with schizophrenia they do not use the same diagnostic criteria. McGuffin found that different definitions produce different concordance rates and therefore comparisons cannot be made within these studies. Another limitation is that MZ twins are very rare. 1% of the world are schizophrenics and only a small portion of these are MZ twins. This sample is small and we cannot have lots of research to then successfully generalise these findings. One of the main criticism is that both twins live in the same environment and therefore we cannot
Family Models of Schizophrenia
Family models Early theories: based on observations- not supported well by research Double bind theory (Bateso '56): child has repeated experiences with family members in which receives contradictory messages e.g. 'looks sleepy, go to bed now"-shows concern for welfare of child but hostility and desire to get child out of the way suggested by body language/tone Repeated exposure to contradictory messages ›child resorts to self deceptions communication problems etc. These interactions prevent the development of internally coherent construction of reality, and in the long run, this manifests itself as schizophrenic symptoms (e.g. flattened affect and withdrawal). R.D. Laing schizophrenia reasonable response to an insane world. Research before 1970's = view that dysfunctional families = most common schizophrenia HOWEVER = family interaction only studied after diagnosis of schizophrenia rarely involved proper control groups Hence Recent research = based on expressed emotion; originally by Brown ('72) then lower showed patients with schizophrenia relapse higher than in homes with high expressed emotions. Characteristics of high expressed emotions include: hostility, criticism and over concern. Patients' recall maybe affected by their schizophrenia. Other studies are less supportive. Hall and Levin ('80) analysed data various previous studies no difference families with
