biological explanations of schizophrenia

?
  • Created by: aniqa.a
  • Created on: 01-12-20 13:46
1. Genetics
state that schizophrenia may be biological in origin
1 of 14
Family studies
Gottesman (1991):
- demonstrated genetic similarity with a sufferer increases, so does the probability of sharing schizophrenia
2 of 14
Twin studies
Joseph (2004):
- calculated pooled data for all schizophrenic twin studies carried our prior to 2001
- showed a concordance rate of 40.4% for monozygotic twins and 7.4% for dizygotic twins
3 of 14
Evaluation
(twin studies)
- research is flawed as they assume environments for MZ and DZ twins are the same. Assumes grater concordance rate of MZ twins is due to genetics rather than environment
4 of 14
Adoption studies
Tienari et al (2000):
- 11/164 adoptees were diagnosed with schizophrenia who had a biological mother with schizophrenia
- 4/197 developed schizophrenia without a biological, schizophrenic mother
5 of 14
Evaluation
(adoption studies)
- adoption isn't random, it is selective. this selection may impact which individuals are adopted. validity may be threatened over potential cofounding variable.
6 of 14
Candidate genes
Ripke et al (2014):
- certain genes are associated with risk of inheritance. Schizophrenia is polygenic.
- found; 108 genetic variations associated with increased risk of schizophrenia.
7 of 14
Evaluation
(candidate genes)
- biologically reductionist. polygenic & aetiologically heterogeneous. oversimplified
- increased understanding of complexity had lead to development of drug therapies. lead to better humane approach to mental illness.
8 of 14
The Dopamine Hypothesis
- high levels of dopamine in certain regions of the brain have been associated with positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
- hyperdopaminergic: high levels of dopamine in subcortex
- hypodopaminergic: low levels of dopamine in prefrontal cortex.
9 of 14
Evaluation
(dopamine hypothesis)
- treatments have been developed to change levels of dopamine. successfully helped people from suffering. proven imbalance of dopamine may be cause of schizophrenia.
10 of 14
2. Neural Correlates
changes in neural event mechanisms that result in characteristic symptoms of a behaviour or mental disorder
correlates negative symtoms.
11 of 14
juckel et al (2006)
- neural correlates negative symptoms
- lower levels of activity in ventral striatum of schizophrenic patients compared to others. observed negative correlation between activity in ventral striatum & severity of negative symptoms
12 of 14
Allen et al (2007)
- compared scans of patients with delusions and hallucinations and control group. then had to identify pre-recorded speech as theirs of others.
-hallucination group; low levels of superior temporal gyrus and anterior gyrus -suggests low activity in those
13 of 14
Evaluation
(neural correlates)
- high reliability due to research into enlarged ventricles and neurotransmitter. research was highly controlled. e.g specialist equipment; MRI, PET scans. accurate readings of regions. falsifiable. same results will be achieved.
14 of 14

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Gottesman (1991):
- demonstrated genetic similarity with a sufferer increases, so does the probability of sharing schizophrenia

Back

Family studies

Card 3

Front

Joseph (2004):
- calculated pooled data for all schizophrenic twin studies carried our prior to 2001
- showed a concordance rate of 40.4% for monozygotic twins and 7.4% for dizygotic twins

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

- research is flawed as they assume environments for MZ and DZ twins are the same. Assumes grater concordance rate of MZ twins is due to genetics rather than environment

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Tienari et al (2000):
- 11/164 adoptees were diagnosed with schizophrenia who had a biological mother with schizophrenia
- 4/197 developed schizophrenia without a biological, schizophrenic mother

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Schizophrenia resources »