Psychological explanations of schizophrenia

Created by: Courtney Horne
Created on: 03-02-14 10:21

Psychodynamic - Freud

Schizophrenia is the result of regression to a pre-ego stage of development; the case if parents were cold and uncaring as a form of defense mechanism(this can explain delusions and hallucinations). The infantile state - Attempts regain ego control

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Cognitive - Acknowledges role of biological factors causing intial experiences, however suggests further symptoms appear when patient tries to understand symptoms

eg - Others fail to validate schizophrenics sensory experiences, which results in thoughts such as "They must be lying; they are out to get me"

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Double-Blind

Batterson - Children who frequently recieve contradictory messages are more likely to develop schizophrenia - Prevents development of an internally coherent construction of reality

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Life events - Stressful life events, such as the death of a close relative or relationship break ups, are associated with higher risk of schizophrenia

Brown and Birley - 50% of people experience a stressful event 3 weeks prior to schizophrenic episode

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Psychodynamic evaluation  No empirical evidence to support Freuds theory of schizophrenia

however, Fromm-Reichmann described "schizophrenogenic mother" as being overprotective, dominant and moralistic. - This may contribute to the development of schizophrenia - Although these behaviours may be a response to a childs S rather than a cause

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Cognitive - Evaluation - Application to the real world

Reality testing - Can help people regain control over their symptoms. Yellowless et al - Developed a virtual reality technique to show schizophrenics that their hallucinations are not real

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Double - Blind - Evaluation

 Berger - Found that schizophrenics reported higher recall of double-blind statements by their mothers than non-schizophrenics

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Life events - Evaluation

Evidence is correlational - Tells us little about cause and effect - It may be that the onset of schizophrenic symptoms caused the major life events such as relationship break-ups or losing a job, rather than the other way round

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Card 2

Front

eg - Others fail to validate schizophrenics sensory experiences, which results in thoughts such as "They must be lying; they are out to get me"

Back

Cognitive - Acknowledges role of biological factors causing intial experiences, however suggests further symptoms appear when patient tries to understand symptoms

Card 3

Front

Batterson - Children who frequently recieve contradictory messages are more likely to develop schizophrenia - Prevents development of an internally coherent construction of reality

Back

Card 4

Front

Brown and Birley - 50% of people experience a stressful event 3 weeks prior to schizophrenic episode

Back

Card 5

Front

Back

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Psychological explanations of schizophrenia