Summary Essay Plan - “Outline and evaluate two or more biological therapies for schizophrenia”
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Course
Schizophrenia
Institution
Canterbury College (CC)
Psychology essay plan tailored to suit the AQA A-level Specification A syllabus.
The essay plans are colour coded to make revision slightly more interesting.
The essay plans are broken down into A01 and A02 criteria.
The A02 criteria has been broken down into research, approach, issue/debate.
R...
“Outline + evaluate 2 or more biological therapies for
schizophrenia”
A01 –
DRUG THERAPY
Most common management of schizophrenia.
ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS - used to treat psychotic illnesses.
→ 2 TYPES OF ANTIPSYCHOTICS:
CONVENTIONAL ANTIPSYCHOTICS – used to combat positive symptoms
of schizophrenia.
→ reduce effects of dopamine by binding to dopamine receptors, blocking
their action – this eliminates hallucinations + delusions.
ATYPICAL ANTIPSYCHOTICS – appear to combat both positive +
negative symptoms.
→ work in a similar way to conventional antipsychotics in terms of
dopamine, but may also block serotonin receptors.
→ only temporarily occupy D₂ receptors + then rapidly disassociate to
allow normal dopamine transmission – it’s thought that this is responsible
for the fewer side effects.
A02 –
RESEARCH 1 – Davis et al (1980)
POINT – supports the effectiveness of conventional antipsychotics in treating
schizophrenia.
EVIDENCE – meta-analysis of 29 studies. Found relapse occurred in 55% of the
patients whose drugs were replaced with placebos, and 19% of those who
remained on the drug.
EXPLAIN – supports because the findings suggest it is the actual drug that is
having the effect, not just the belief that taking the drug will have an effect.
EVALUATE – strength – huge sample – increases population validity – may make
findings may generalizable beyond the study – strengthens research support.
AO1 -
ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT)
Idea of ECT as treatment for schizophrenia came about due to the
observation that seizures in patients with schizophrenia reduced the
symptoms of the disorder.
Before electric shock is administered, patient is anaesthetised + given a
nerve blocking agent (to paralyse muscles so they don’t contract + cause
fractures).
Then a small amount of electric current (approx. 0.6 amps), lasting about
½ a second is passed through the brain via electrodes placed on patient’s
forehead.
This produces a seizure lasting up to a minute, which affects the brain.
It’s not clear why this appears to work.
It’s the seizure that affects the brain, not the electricity.
AO2 –
RESEARCH 2 – Sarita et al (1998)
POINT – contradicts the effectiveness of ECT as a treatment for schizophrenia.
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