Psya4 - P - Psychological Explanations Of Schizophrenia

Front 1

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Intrapersonal regression
AO1

Back 1

Freud believed S was the result of individuals dealing with overwhelming conflict and stress by regressing to an earlier stage of psychosexual development at which the individuals felt more secure. In S, the individual has regressed to the oral stage of psychosexual development. This was when the ego and superego are not well developed, and consequently the id is dominant. Hallucinations and delusions seen in S represent the unchecked activities of the id.

Front 2

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Intrapersonal regression
AO2

Back 2

+ Most individuals with S start to develop symptoms at time of great change stress in their lives.
- Psychoanalysis has generally failed to treat psychotic disorders, like S. As the therapy is inadequate, it generally undermines the validity of the explanation.
- At the moment there is no adequately controlled or empirical evidence to support the regression explanation for schizophrenia. Therefore this means that we cannot prove this hypothesis, but it also means that no one can disprove this hypothesis.

Front 3

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Family life
AO1

Back 3

Various different psychological approaches have proposed that family relations are a key component in developing S.
SCHIZOPHRENOGENIC MOTHERS - FROMM REICHMANN (1948) proposed that mothers of individuals who develop S are overprotective and controlling but at the same time rejecting and emotionally distant.
DOUBLE BIND HYPOTHESIS - BATESON (1956) proposed that sometimes children receive confusing and contradictory messages from parents regarding praise and love and this leads to self-doubt and withdrawl.

Front 4

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Family life
AO2

Back 4

Are family interactions really a sufficient explanation for S?
- WYNNE (1979) found no consistent evidence to suggest that mothers of individual with S are more likely to fit the description of ‘schizophrenogenic mother’ than a control group.
- HIRSCH & LEFF (1975) reported that in many cases, the parents of individuals with S are generally 'less well adjusted' than the parents of normal individuals. In fact, the parents often suffer from S themselves. We cannot therefore conclude that child rearing is the cause of the S, alternatively it maybe that the co-occurrence of S is due to their shared genes.
+ EXPRESSED EMOTION - BUTZLAFF & HOOLEY (1998) found high level of expressed emotion in a family can shorten relapse time. They believe that family life may not be sufficient to cause S, but it is a signifcant influence in the prognosis of those with S.

Front 5

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Cognitive
AO1

Back 5

*ATTENTIONAL FILTERS FAILURE - FRITH (1979) proposed that disruption to attentional filters could result in the thought disturbance of S, as the sufferer is overloaded with sensory information.
*CONTEXT FAILURE - FRITH (1993) believes individuals with S fail to appreciate the context of a behaviour, meaning they have to guess about the intentions of those they interact with.
* SCHEMA FAILURE - HEMSLEY (1993) believes individuals with S do not use schemas, meaning every situation they face is new - an overwhelming creative and confusing prospect.

Front 6

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Cognitive
AO2

Back 6

+ Led to the development of much testing: Barch (1999) found those with S were slower and made more mistakes on a Stroop test, possibly because they couldn't filter the information as effectively.
BUT
- Cognitive explanations are only really good at explaining the symptoms linked to cognitive processes, unable to explain symptoms like movement issues.

Front 7

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Sociocultural factors
AO1& AO2

Back 7

*Epidemiological studies have found many shared characteristics of those who develop S. Being born in the winter months; left handedness; cannabis use and even living in an urban environment have all been linked to a greater incidence of S.

- Epidemiological studies tend to rely on retrospective data and the findings are only as reliable and accurate as the medical records or recolections that they use. Although prospective studies would clarify causal pathways, these are difficult to do, in both practical and ethical terms.
- None of the factors noted is sufficient to explain the development of S in ALL individual diagnosed with it. Sometimes the link is unclear, for example some report using cannabis in order to self-treat the early undiagnosed symptoms of S.

Front 8

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Diathesis Stress

AO1 & A02

Back 8

One of the most popular explanations of S is the Diatheses Stress explanation. This proposes that S results when individuals who have a biological predispostition experience significant life events.

- This explanation obviously suggests that psychological explanations by themselves are inadequate at explaining the causes of S.

Front 9

Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia

Overall conclusions

Back 9

Psychological explanations are not as coherent as the ones proposed by the Biological approach, and perhaps their lack of a really effective treatment has undermined the explanations they have offered.