Causes of Schizophrenia

Neurotransmitters

• Dopamine hypothesis
  
• > unusual behaviour and experiences associated with Schizophrenia can be explained by changes in dopamine functions
• Drug altering levels relieve some symptoms 
• > phenothiazines (antipsychotics) inhibit dopamine and reduce Schizophrenia symptoms 

Environmental Factors 

• Family dynamics 
• > 'schizophrenigenic mother' (Fromm-Reichmann, 1948)
• -- mother who isn't capable of drawing a clear boundary between herself and her child
• > family disruption caused by Schizophrenic family member 
• > communication deviance in families
• -- speaker fails to effectively communicate meaning to the listener with confusing speech patterns 
• -- reflects presence of genetic predisposition for Schizophrenia in the family 
• > role of family in relapse 
• -- Brown (1958) relapse rate dependent on family context 
• § increased if live with family or friends 
• § stressed by family emotions
• -- defined concept of EE (expressed emotions)
• § based on how family members talk about patient 
• § criticism…