Can a reductionist approach explain the onset of Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is one of the most challenging mental disorders as it’s caused by a combination of factors rather than one root cause. Reductionism is an approach which attempts to understand the nature of complex phenomena by reducing them into a smaller set of properties (Jones, 2004) and therefore disregarding the complexities of an individual’s brain and experiences. The purpose of this essay is to assess whether a reductionist approach can explain the onset of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterised by positive and negative symptoms that last for 6months and includes 1month of active-phase symptoms. Positive symptoms are unusual thoughts or perceptions …show more content…
Although reductionism is beneficial in psychology because it enables empirical testing and supports other scientific subjects, the holistic explanations produces a more comprehensive idea of Schizophrenia. As holism does not ignore the complexities of the patients mind and past experiences the explanation becomes more meaningful and integrated. An example of the holism approach explaining schizophrenia would consider the interaction of environmental, biological and psychological factors. The theoretical model outlining the holistic idea is the Diathesis-Stress model. According to Meehl (1962) this model can be used to describe to etiology of Schizophrenia. This model is a psychological theory which states that for Schizophrenia to develop, the individual must have a hereditary predisposition and stressors (environmental factors such as major life events) to trigger the illness. Evidence for the Diathesis-Stress model derives from longitudinal studies. Day, Nielsen, Korten, Ernberg, Dube, Gebhart, Jablensky, Leon, Marsella, Olatawura (1987) conducted cross-cultural studies and concluded that Schizophrenia patients were likely to have experienced stressful life events in the previous weeks before having a schizophrenia episode. One of the benefits of the Diathesis-Stress model is that it considers psychological factors including family relationships. For example, high Expressed Emotion (EE) which includes over-involvement and hostility in the family can help to maintain schizophrenia. Vaughn and Leff (1976) found that patients who spent less time in high EE environments were less likely to relapse. They found that 51% relapsed in high EE households compared to 13% in homes with low EE. However, it is important to note that the family communication and
Schizophrenia is one of the most challenging mental disorders as it’s caused by a combination of factors rather than one root cause. Reductionism is an approach which attempts to understand the nature of complex phenomena by reducing them into a smaller set of properties (Jones, 2004) and therefore disregarding the complexities of an individual’s brain and experiences. The purpose of this essay is to assess whether a reductionist approach can explain the onset of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterised by positive and negative symptoms that last for 6months and includes 1month of active-phase symptoms. Positive symptoms are unusual thoughts or perceptions …show more content…
Although reductionism is beneficial in psychology because it enables empirical testing and supports other scientific subjects, the holistic explanations produces a more comprehensive idea of Schizophrenia. As holism does not ignore the complexities of the patients mind and past experiences the explanation becomes more meaningful and integrated. An example of the holism approach explaining schizophrenia would consider the interaction of environmental, biological and psychological factors. The theoretical model outlining the holistic idea is the Diathesis-Stress model. According to Meehl (1962) this model can be used to describe to etiology of Schizophrenia. This model is a psychological theory which states that for Schizophrenia to develop, the individual must have a hereditary predisposition and stressors (environmental factors such as major life events) to trigger the illness. Evidence for the Diathesis-Stress model derives from longitudinal studies. Day, Nielsen, Korten, Ernberg, Dube, Gebhart, Jablensky, Leon, Marsella, Olatawura (1987) conducted cross-cultural studies and concluded that Schizophrenia patients were likely to have experienced stressful life events in the previous weeks before having a schizophrenia episode. One of the benefits of the Diathesis-Stress model is that it considers psychological factors including family relationships. For example, high Expressed Emotion (EE) which includes over-involvement and hostility in the family can help to maintain schizophrenia. Vaughn and Leff (1976) found that patients who spent less time in high EE environments were less likely to relapse. They found that 51% relapsed in high EE households compared to 13% in homes with low EE. However, it is important to note that the family communication and