Outline and evaluate psychological explanations of schizophrenia
Outline and evaluate psychological explanations of schizophrenia The incidence of schizophrenia is not distributed evenly across the population. The highest rates of schizophrenia are found in urban areas, among people of the lowest socioeconomic group. The incidence of schizophrenia among the very poor is four times greater than in the highest socio economic grou0p. Two hypotheses have been suggested to explain these findings: the social causation hypothesis and the social drift hypothesis. According to the social causation hypothesis, it is the experience of being a member of a low socioeconomic status group that explains the higher incidence of schizophrenia. Unemployment, poverty, high crime rate and poor housing induce a great deal of stress and feelings of alienation, which in turn make people more vulnerable to schizophrenia. Whilst the social drift hypothesis, it is accorded that this hypothesis people with schizophrenia drift down the social ladder into the lowest socioeconomic group. As a result of their disorder they may be unemployed or be restricted to low paid and unskilled jobs. Support for the social causation hypothesis comes from findings that schizophrenia is almost seven times more common in African-Caribbean people than in white people - although the incidence of schizophrenia in Caribbean countries is similar to that of white people in this country
Describe & evaluate explanations of schizophrenia (1 bioloigcal & 1 psychological).
SCHIZOPHRENIA DESCRIBE & EVALUATE EXPLANATIONS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA (1 BIOLOIGCAL & 1 PSYCHOLOGICAL). One explanation of schizophrenia is genetics. Gottesman (1991) summarized about 40 twin studies; the concordance rate was 48% for monozygotic twins, and 17% concordance for dizygotic twins. This suggests that there is a link between genes and schizophrenia, but this does not apply to the whole population, as twins are not typical of the general population. Twin studies only take very small sample sizes. Also the twins share the same environment, which could also be the reason why both twins develop schizophrenia. Gottesman also reviewed concordance rates in family studies. If both your parents have schizophrenia, then you have a 46% chance of developing schizophrenia as well, if one parent has schizophrenia it is 16%, if a sibling has it then the concordance rate is 8% and the concordance rate is 1% for a random individual. This suggests that the stronger the genetic link the greater the chance that you will get schizophrenia. However, the fact that family members who are more similar genetically tend to spend more time together means that environmental factors are also indicated in this evidence. The concept that genetic factors are important in producing schizophrenia is supported by adoption studies. Tienari (1991) managed to find 155 schizophrenic mothers who had given up
Social Work & Schizophrenia
Service User Group - Individuals with Schizophrenia Schizophrenia can be described as a chronic, debilitating disorder, characterized by an inability to distinguish between what is real and what is not (Tartakovsky, 2009). The individual usually experiences symptoms such as hallucinations and delusional thoughts, and they are unable to think rationally, communicate properly, make decisions or remember information. Some other symptoms include disorganised speech, disorganised behaviour, flat emotions, apathy and loss of drive. There are a number of theories that attempt to explain the onset of schizophrenia. This is an area of great debate. Many of the theories that have been put forward in the past have not yet been fully supported by strong scientific research. It is probable that there are a number of different causes. Modern techniques have demonstrated that some affected people have changes in the structure of their brains. There is also evidence that some of these individuals may have been affected by infections before they were born. Occasionally the disorder appears to run in families affecting many family members. The 'Diathesis-Stress Model' balances the cause of schizophrenia between internal and external influences. It emphasizes the impact that the environment can have on people who are deemed genetically vulnerable to developing schizophrenia.
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
Outline and evaluate two or more therapies used in the treatment of schizophrenia.
Treating Schizophrenia 'Therapies can be time-consuming and, in some cases, uncomfortable for the client. It is, therefore, very important to offer the most appropriate and effective type of treatment.' Outline and evaluate two or more therapies used in the treatment of schizophrenia. Different people choose different therapies for schizophrenia because the difference in treatments is so vast with different levels of intensity and effectiveness. Treatments are usually selected by which the patient feels most comfortable with. There are two main types of therapies, Biological and Psychological. Antipsychotic medication is a biological therapy. These are drugs that are effective in treating the most disturbing forms of psychotic illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Antipsychotic medication helps the person with the disorder function as well as possible in their life. Conventional antipsychotics (for example chlorpromazine) are used primarily to combat the positive symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations. The basic mechanism of conventional antipsychotics is to reduce the effects of dopamine and so reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia, hence their alter ego, dopamine antagonists. They bind to dopamine receptors but do not stimulate them, thus blocking their action. By reducing stimulation of the dopamine system in the brain, antipsychotics can
Discuss two or more biological therapies for schizophrenia
Discuss two or more biological therapies for schizophrenia (9 + 16) Biological therapies for schizophrenia come in two forms: antipsychotic medication, and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Considering the eclectic nature of schizophrenia as a disorder, the debate over appropriate and effective treatment is heated, and many psychologists are still unclear over which is the ideal method for tackling the disorder. Antipsychotic medications are commonly divided into two categories: conventional and atypical. Conventional antipsychotics bind to dopamine receptors but do not stimulate them, blocking the way for displaced dopamine to cause a chemical imbalance in a schizophrenic's biology. By reducing the effects of dopamine, positive symptoms such as hallucinations can be reduced, in line with the view of the dopamine hypothesis. Whilst atypical antipsychotics also act on the dopamine system, it is debated whether the drugs' ability to reduce negative symptoms such as avolition stems from a varying way of dealing with the dopamine system, or, alternatively, the additional effect of blocking serotonin. Kapur and Remington suggested in 2001 that whilst conventional antipsychotics block dopamine receptors long-term, atypical medication does so temporarily, before dissociating to allow normal transmission of the chemical. The differing ways in which the drugs work is central to the
Explain different psychological approaches to health practice.
Unit 8: Psychological Perspectives for Health and Social Care. P2: Explain different psychological approaches to health practice. There are six different psychological approaches in psychology. I have talked about these in great detail in my previous assignment P1, I will now discuss the different psychological approaches to health practice. The six psychological approaches are; Behaviourist perspective*, Social learning theory, Psychodynamic perspective, Humanistic perspective, Cognitive perspective* and the Biological perspective. The behaviourist perspective is all about believing that learning has occurred when you can see the changes in behavior. The behavioral learning model is the result of conditioning. Conditioning suggests that a reward following a desirable response acts as a reinforcer and increases the likelihood that the desirable response will be repeated. Reinforcement is the most important part of the behaviorist approach. A paediatric nurse in a healthcare setting provides reinforcement at each step of the process. For example, when a child is having to get a blood test done and is afraid and refusing to do so calmly, the nurse will look for a positive behavior and then gives the patient immediate reinforcement by saying, “you are such a big boy, well done!” or “you did an excellent job with that!”. Another time the behaviourist theory is used
Describe and Discuss Two Alternative Psychological Approaches To Abnormal Behaviour
Anne Bingham Health and Welfare (Abnormal Behaviour) DESCRIBE AND DISCUSS TWO ALTERNATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR The word psychology is derived from two Greek words, psyche which means mind, soul or spirit and logos which means study. When the two are put together it means 'study of the mind', hence the word psychology. Different psychologists take different approaches towards abnormal behaviour. The main four approaches are: psychodynamic, behaviourist, cognitive, humanist. None of these approaches are either wrong or right, they are merely just different ways of dealing with different people's problems. We will concentrate on two of these approaches: cognitive and psychodynamic and look at the therapies involved in treating patients with various psychological abnormalities, and the therapists who helped develop the approaches. The cognitive approach concentrates on changing the way a person thinks about themselves or their environment and other people. Cognitions are a combination of faulty thoughts and the incapability to make good decisions, which lead to depression and anxiety. By changing the way people think and see things, alters their whole perspective on life and therefore makes them better. Optimistic people are less likely to become depressed as they look on the bright side and envisage everything around them as being good or there
Outline and Evaluate the biological model to Abnormality.
Aleksander Filipczak Outline and Evaluate the biological model to Abnormality. The biological approach sees mental disorders being caused by abnormal physiological processes in the body. Therefore, any abnormality must have specific causes that happen in some bodily malfunction or genetic factors etc. For this model, the cure is to remove such the root cause, thus returning the body's status to "normal". This model is called the biological or medical model, due to the reason that it approaches mental illness diagnosis with a similarity to that of physical illnesses. Due to the model being very scientific in nature of investigation and understanding the psychological illness, it is most widely accepted model to psychological abnormality around the world. The biological model states, that all mental disorders are related to some change in the body, such as brain damage, genes, infection or biochemistry. Many abnormalities with the brain might occur due to genetic inheritance, which means that the abnormality was passed down from parent to child. A way of investigating this is by studying pairs of identical twins. They can be compared to each other (due to identical genetic structure) , and therefore see, that if abnormality is passed down by genetics, if one twin has a disorder, then the second should also have it, which gives us concordance rates. Research suggests that
Embryo Screening. The embryo screening, also referred as PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis), is a procedure tested on an embryo to identify any unwanted diseases that is found in the genes of the embryo.
Embryo Screening Settling down and starting a family is what many couples have in mind. It's a life changing decision the many indivisual choose to endure, however, obstacles and complications have delayed couples from fulfilling their goal. Leaving the chances of pregnancy aside, couples try to prevent many issues that occur with their newborns - infectious and complicated diseases, deformities and abnormalities. In many cultures and races, it is customary, or even the norm, to marry close relatives. This scientifically has been proven to increase the chances of having your offspring inherit the diseases that have been in the past generations, such as diabetes, cancer, anemia and leukemia. [8] One type of solution that has been discovered is embryo screening and human genetic engineering. The embryo screening, also referred as PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis), is a procedure tested on an embryo to identify any unwanted diseases that is found in the genes of the embryo. This then enables the couples to be aware of the problems that they might be facing if they do get pregnant, and leaving their embryo untouched. After enlightening couples about the genetic diseases found in the genes, they have to whether to go through the PGD and modify the genes to contract the ones that contain the genetic information about the disease, abnormality, or deformity. "PGD involves
