Explanations for SCZ

Biological Explanations
1. The Dopamine Hypothesis
  1. The idea that dopamine transmitted from neurons for sending messages are being fired too regularly and easily, causing scz symptoms to develop.
  2. Dopamine can't be used for treatment as it's said to play a part in the cause of scz, but it can be used in the sense that the understanding of its actions allows for treatments to be delivered to reduce the amount of dopamine binding with neurons or the no. of dopamine receptors.
  3. Comer 2003- interfering the actions of dopamine could lead to problems with perception and attention as it plays a big part in guiding attention
  4. Drugs used as treatment can increase dopamine rather than reduce it as the sudden deficiency can lead to neurons struggling to compensate
  5. Haracz 1982 looked at post mortem studies and dfound that those with high dopamine levels had recieved anti-psychotic drugs before death
  6. neuroimaging studies have not provided sufficient evidence to support the idea that dopamine activity is altered in those who have scz.
2. Genetics
  1. Diathesis stress model
    1. There is a genetic disposition (diathesis part)
      1. From a biological imbalance(too much dopamine)
        Symptoms are triggered --> Cognitive dysfunction= which leads to SCZ
        Upbringing triggers
        Environmental factors
        Family relationships= Nature vs Nurture
    2. Determinist
    3. Reductionist
    4. Problems with twin studies
  2. Family studies established that scz is more common among biological relatives of a person with scz and that the closer the degree of genetics relatedness the greater the rish
    1. Children with 2 scz parents have a concordance rate (chance of) 46%. A child of 1 scz parent the concordance rate was 13% and siblings only 9%.
      1. SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
        Joseph 2004, found that MZ twins (identical) had a concordance rate of 40.4% and DZ twins (fraternal) 7.4%. This supports the genetic position of MZ concordance rate is many times higher than DZ.
        Tienari et al 2000 found of the 164 adoptees whose biological mothers have been diagnosed with scz, 11 (6.7%) also received a diagnosis of scz compared to just 4 (2%) of the 197 control adoptees (born to non-scz mothers) This concluded that these findings showed that the genetic liability to scz had been "decisively confirmed".
      2. CRITICISMS- Referring to studies of family Findings
        SCZ appears to run in families which supports the argument for a genetic basis for the disorder. However the fact that SCZ appears to run in families may be more to do with common rearing patterns or other factors that have nothing to do with heredity
        MZ twins are treated more similarly, encounter more similar environments e.g. more likely to do things together and experience more "identity confusion" than DZ twins. The differences in concordance rates between DZ and MZ twins reflects nothing more than the environmental differences that distinguish the 2types of twins
        IDA- most adoption studies would not have found statistically significant differences between the adoptees born to scz and non-scz parents without boarding the definition of scz to include non-zygotic "scz spectrum disorders".
Psychological Explanations
1. Cognitive explanation
  1. Acknowledges the role of biological factor initial sensory experience and claim further features of the disorder come when individuals try to understand those experiences. Faulty thought processing causes SCZ.
    1. e.g. experiencing sense that aren't real and when told they aren't real they feel conspired against and faulty thinking is the problem of mistaking unreal for real leading to paranoia
  2. Research: Meyer and Lindenberg found a link between excess dopamine in the prefrontal cortex and the state of working memory. Suggesting that there's a scientifically proven link between faulty processing and high dopamine levels. Supporting the connection between the biological and cognitive explanations.
2. Socio-Cultural explanation
  1. Double Bind Theory
    1. Bateson et al 1956 suggests children who frequently receive contradictory messages from their parents are more likely to develop scz. for example when a mother tells her son she loves him and turns away at the same time he is receiving 2 mixed messages from the mother which invalidate each other. These interaction prevent the development of internally coherent constructions of reality and in the long run will manifest symptoms of scz (flattened affect and withdrawal
    2. Berger 1965 found that sczs reported a higher recall of double bind statements by their mother than non-sczs. However, this evidence may not be reliable, as patients recall may be affected by their scz
    3. Hall and Levin 1980 analysed data from various previous studies and found no difference between families with and without a scz member in the degree to which verbal and non verbal communication were in agreement
    4. Tienari et al 1994 found that adopted children with scz biological parents were more likely to become ill themselves than those children with non scz biological parents. However this difference only emerged in situations when adopted families were rated as distured, thus meaning the illness only manifested itself under appropriate environment conditions. Genetic vulnerability alones wasn't sufficient
  2. Expressed emotions: this is family communication which involves critisicim: hostility and emotional over- involvement. high levels of EE most likely influence relapse rates
    1. Linszen et al 1997 found that a pp who comes home to a family with high EE levels will be 4 times more likely to encounter relapses than a pp returning to a family with low EE
    2. Kalafi and Torabi 1996 in Iran found high prevalence in Iranian culture, which is full of over protective mothers and rejective fathers were the ones to cause scz relapses
    3. Negative emotion climates would arouse patients leading to a place of stress beyond capability mechanisms causing scz episodes. The effects of EE are more universal empirical support than the double bind theory, however the issue with EE is a cause or effect of SCZ and what the conditions for high EE levels are.

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Explanations for SCZ

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	Created by 09akodun over 8 years ago