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
Critically Assess The View That Schizophrenia is a Social Construction
Abnormal Psychology Critically Assess The View That Schizophrenia is a Social Construction Fiona Dyer The word 'normal' is a phrase often used without thought in everyday language. We say things such as 'that tastes normal' or 'you look normal to me...' etc. but when you actually think about what 'normal' is you begin to realise that normality in a sense does not exist. The conventional understanding of normality is to think of it as the average. It's suggests that the majority of the population is similar to each other on a variety of things; this similarity is given the label of normality. Anything that deviates from this would be seen as abnormal. So for example to get an extremely high or extremely low score in an I.Q. test would seem abnormal (if the average score were 100 and the majority of the population scored close to that). However, a type of abnormality such as a high I.Q. could be seen as desirable whilst a low I.Q. is seen as undesirable. What is interesting here is abnormality is not always seen as a negative, yet the word 'abnormal' in itself is often used in a negative way. The reason for this could lie in Social Constructionism. Social Constructionism is basically the belief that the world we live in is constructed. That is, all our beliefs, knowledge, understandings and behaviours are constructed in a certain way, intentionally or not. "It assumes that
"Biological explanations of schizophrenia tell us all we need to know about this disorder" Critically consider biological explanations of schizophrenia with reference to the issue raised in the quotation above.
"Biological explanations of schizophrenia tell us all we need to know about this disorder" Critically consider biological explanations of schizophrenia with reference to the issue raised in the quotation above. The biological approach covers a verity of different explanations. The first explanation comes from twin studies, abortion studies and perspective studies. If schizophrenia was totally and always inherited then concordance rates between MZ twins (identical) and DZ twins (non identical) would be 100%. If on the other hand genetic inheritance had nothing to do with schizophrenia, the concordance rates would be close to 0%. In a study by Gottesman, it was found that there was a concordance rate of 48% for MZ twins as opposed to 17% for DZ twins. A study by Kendler supports this. In this study it was found that there was a concordance rate of 50% for MZ twins compared to a 15% rate doe DZ twins. In a study by Heston children born to schizophrenic mothers and adopted by non-schizophrenia families was compared with a control group of adopted children with non-schizophrenic mothers. It was found that 66% of those children born to schizophrenic mothers were given a diagnosis of schizophrenia later in life compared to 18% in the control group. This suggests a strong genetic component to schizophrenia. A study by Tienari compared 112 adopted children of schizophrenic birth
Discuss the Main Treatments for Schizophrenia
Treatments for Schizophrenia The use of drugs or psychotherapies can be used in order to treat schizophrenia. If the causes of schizophrenia are physiological then it follows that treatments should be physiological. However it has been shown that both physiological and psychological factors can lead to the condition of schizophrenia, so it makes sense to consider both forms of treatment. Physiological treatments appear to fail not because they are ineffective but because patients often dislike the side effects of drugs and therefore don’t take them. As a result, psychological treatments (psychotherapies) are frequently used as an alternative to physiological treatments, or in addition to them. PHYSIOLOGICAL TREATMENT Chemotherapy- Anti Psychotic Drugs There are two main categories of drugs- . Conventional Neuroleptic Drugs/ Anti Psychotic Drugs 2. Newer Atypical Drugs Conventional Anti Psychotic Drugs (such as Thorazine, Prolixin, Haldol and Chlorpromazine) Conventional anti psychotic drugs are used to combat the positive symptoms such as hallucinations and thought disturbances. The positive symptoms are thought to be products of an overactive dopamine system. Conventional antipsychotics reduce dopamine levels. They are dopamine antagonists in that they bind to, but do not stimulate dopamine receptors, therefore blocking their action. In other words, they block the
Explain how reliability and validity affect the diagnosis of mental health and illness.
Explain how reliability and validity affect the diagnosis of mental health and illness. Rosenhan's study uncovered weaknesses in the process of diagnosis using the DSM-11. The study shows that the method used for diagnosis was reliable because participants went to a range of different hospitals, and so therefore different psychologists treated them. Each participant presented the psychologist with the exact same symptoms, and all of the psychologists diagnosed them as schizophrenic, showing 100% reliability for diagnosis. The diagnosis is considered reliable because more than one psychologist gave the same diagnosis for the same symptoms. This study supports the idea, that if the classification system is reliable, then diagnosis will be 100% correct. However the study showed that the process of diagnosis used by the psychologists was low in validity, because all of the participants were misdiagnosed. Each psychologist diagnosed the pseudo patients as schizophrenic, when actually they were all faking. The diagnosis system was found to be low in validity, which resulted in patients being misdiagnosed. Instead the psychologists misdiagnosed a patient based on a false pattern of symptoms. Rosenhan's study can be criticised because a small sample of only 8 participants was used, therefore we cannot be certain that the DSM-11 process of diagnosis is always low in validity and high
schizophrenia
Massey 1 Schizophrenia (Paranoid Type) Today Schizophrenia is known as one of the most horrendous psychiatric mental disorders one could possibly be diagnosed with. Eugene Bleuler coined the term in 1908. The name Schizophrenia comes from the Greek works 'skhizein' meaning 'to split' and 'phren' meaning 'mind', in other words, "split mind" not to be confused with multiple personality disorder. It instead refers to the fact that the mind can no longer see the difference between what is real and the delusions that it creates because of the disorder. There are five differing types of schizophrenia. The kind of schizophrenia called paranoid schizophrenia is arguably the most horrific of the five. There are two kinds of schizophrenic symptoms, positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are usually seen in psychotic episodes and usually entail diverse abnormal behaviors such as delusions, hallucinations, and disordered and disorganized thoughts. The negative symptoms are seen between psychotic episodes and generally involve the loss of normal behavior. Negative symptoms include social reclusiveness, catatonic behavior, reduced speech and not showing emotions. Although, the main criteria of this disease are a preoccupation with out of the ordinary delusions that the patient creates in his or her mind, accompanied by frequent auditory and sometimes visual
Compare and contrast biological and psychologicalexplanations of schizophrenia
Compare and contrast biological and psychological explanations of schizophrenia Both the biological and the psychological explanations of schizophrenia are supported by empirical evidence which justify their explanations. However ,within the biological explanation there is the genetic explanation which is used largely based on scientific research such as that of Gottesman's research using meta-analysis which looked at the family (including twin) relationships and concordance rates of schizophrenia. The studies used Gottesman's research was scientifically based and because of the large number of studies and therefore the sample used, the biological research can be credited for being representative. However, research into the psychological explanation such as the family theory and the Schizoprenogenic Mother is based on uncontrolled clinical observations as is the double bind communication. This suggests the possibility of researcher bias and no firm cause and effect conclusions can be made. Critics would therefore argue that the biological explanation has much more credibility where research evidence is concerned than the psychological model. Due to the size and nature of the research. Although research in the biological explanation was scientifically based is was not laboratory based. As there was no manipulation of the IV or DV neither the biological or the psychological
Discuss the issues of Reliability and Validity in the Diagnosis of Mental Abnormality.
Discuss the issues of Reliability and Validity in the Diagnosis of Mental Abnormality Diagnosis is the process of identifying a disease, and allocating it to a category on the basis of symptoms and signs. A classification system such as the DSM-IV version can be used to diagnose mental abnormality. Categorisation therefore is very important, as diagnosis using the classification system will bring about certain treatments, and if the diagnosis is wrong, the person may be receiving inappropriate treatment, which may do more harm than good. Clearly any classification system will be of little value unless psychologists can agree with one another when trying to reach a diagnosis. However if for example a person is diagnosed with a mental illness such as manic depression, the clinical psychologist will know what symptoms to expect and possible ways of treating the illness. By clinical psychologists all using the same classification system, diagnosis should be less bias, because they use objective behaviours and sets of symptoms. However a clinical psychologist may interpret a person's behaviour in a different way to another clinical psychologist, so diagnosis can be seen as quite sceptical. A diagnosis is considered reliable if more than one psychologist would give the same diagnosis to the same individual. Early studies consistently showed poor diagnostic reliability. Cooper
Atypical Psychology: Describe and Evaluate Perspectives of Psychological Disorders (Studies and Theories).
Atypical Psychology: Describe and Evaluate Perspectives of Psychological Disorders (Studies and Theories). In this assignment the Author intends to describe the dopamine hypothesis and its relationship to Schizophrenia, describe the biological and/or physiological theory of depression, evaluate the theories and offer alternative explanations for both schizophrenia and depression and finally conclude by writing an essay identifying three psychological disorders. The Dopamine Hypothesis According to the biochemical theory of schizophrenia and /or the dopamine hypothesis the causes of schizophrenia like symptoms is essentially an excess of the neurotransmitter dopamine. (Coordination Group Publications 2009). 'This was based on observations that an overdose of amphetamine causes schizophrenia like symptoms in normal participants (e.g., Snyder et al., 1974) and when given to schizophrenic patients, amphetamines tend to exaggerate their symptoms (Snyder et al., 1974). Amphetamines enhance the synaptic activity of dopamine.' (Snyder, 1976). (Keiron Walsh 2008). The primary evidence for this hypothesis comes from three main sources; the first is post mortems on schizophrenics which have shown unusually high levels of dopamine, especially in the limbic system (Iverson, 1979). The second is anti-schizophrenic drugs such as chlorpromazine which are thought to work by inhibiting
To what extent can biological investigations provide evidence to suggest language lateralisation correlates with schizophrenia?
IB Extended Essay Psychology November 2012 Language and Schizophrenia To what extent can biological investigations provide evidence to suggest language lateralisation correlates with schizophrenia? Candidate Name: Kayla Jackson Candidate Number: 003562-044 Word count: 3979 School: Queensland Academy for Health Science ________________ Abstract ________________ Schizophrenia is a form of psychosis featuring cognitive, emotional and behavioural symptoms. The causes of schizophrenia are considered controversial and difficult, if not impossible to determine, however it is considered to be an interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Language lateralisation, however, cannot be specifically defined as to only belonging to one aspect of the brain as many separate sections appear to affect or be affected by the presence of schizophrenia. Within this investigation both the localisation of language functions and the correlation to schizophrenia are visited and evaluated. This investigation evaluates the evidence of the impact of language lateralisation and other variables on the likelihood of developing schizophrenia. Biological determinates, such as an individual’s hand preference, (left, right or ambidextrous) and their brain structure, in particular asymmetry across both hemispheres, are discussed in order to determine how crucial they are in the
