Biological explanations for schizophrenia

Created by: Tillytear
Created on: 10-12-21 14:49

What are the 3 biological explanations for schizophrenia?

Genetics, abnormal dopamine functioning and neural correlates

1 of 7

Explain the genetic explanation...

•Schizophrenia is hereditary (transmitted through genes)
•There’s many candidate genes which increase overall vulnerability to developing schizophrenia
•Said genes work in combination – making schizophrenia polygenic

2 of 7

Evidence for the genetic explanation...

•Gottesman and Shields (1976) – 5 twin studies, 75-91% concordance rate for MZ twins with severe schizophrenia
•Parmas et al (1993) – longitudinal family study, 16% of children got schizophrenia if their mothers had it, 2% got it if their mothers didn’t

3 of 7

Further evidence...

•Torrey et al (1994) – twin studies, if one MZ twin develops schizophrenia there’s a 28% chance the other one will too

4 of 7

Evaluation of the genetic explanation...

•Whilst twin studies show the influence of genetics, they don’t consider the influence of social class and shared environmental factors
•No study found a 100% concordance rate between MZ twins, so schizophrenia can’t only be caused by genetics

5 of 7

Further evaluation...

•Twin studies

6 of 7

Explain the dopamine hypothesis...

•The neurotransmitter ‘dopamine’ is linked to the onset of schizophrenia
•

7 of 7

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Explain the genetic explanation...

Back

Card 3

Front

Evidence for the genetic explanation...

Back

Card 4

Front

Further evidence...

Back

Card 5

Front

Evaluation of the genetic explanation...

Back

View more cards

Get Revising

Biological explanations for schizophrenia