Psychology Unit 4

Freud believes that schizophrenia is a result of two processes:

• Regression to a pre-ego state
• Attempt to allow ego to take control

Symptoms of this include; delusions of grandeur and auditory hallucinations. (Auditory hallucinations seen as an attempt to re-establish control of the ego).

Unresolved conflicts in childhood (lead to fixation/regression to earlier psychosexual stages, especially oral development, known as primary narcissism)

Primary narcissism- ego is not separated from the id

Five stages- oral, ****, phallic, latency and genital (child will suffer abnormalities if they do not go through each stage)

• Theory accounts for some symptoms (delusions of grandeur/hallucinations) and loss of contact with reality in schizophrenics. (Schizophrenics regress to an earlier stage in which they have no notion of reality).
• Theory is speculative, it's impossible to test its accuracy. (Concepts like the id, ego and superego are hard to test, lack of research for theory), lacks scientific validity, cannot be falsified.
• Freud used his own patients (Upper-class Viennese hysterical women) so his theory is subjected to sample bias. (Population validity may be low).
• Waring and Ricks (Contradict mothers being unloving)- Found they tended to be anxious/shy. Can be argued that mothers of schizophrenics are no different than those of non-schizophrencis (Differences in family interactions may be effects of having a child with schizophrenia instead of a cause).
• Doesn't explain onset of schizophrenia (suggests problems start in childhood)
• Approach ignores focuses on the past (current problems may be ignored)