Summary of the key knowledge points from the Schizophrenia topic in AQA A-Level Psychology. Information is limited to short and concise points containing key information. Designed as revision material not for learning.
Psychological Explanations
Schizophrenia AO1
Family Dysfunction
- Schizophrenogenic mother leads to
Diagnosis distrustful and paranoid environment
- Double-bind theory – contradictory
- DSM-5 = 1 positive symptom communication – child can’t win – leads
- ICD-10 = 2 negative symptoms to paranoia and delusions – not a cause
- Positive Symptoms – additional to just a risk factor
normal experience: hallucinations, - High levels of negative expressed
delusions emotion create a stressful family
- Negative Symptoms – loss of normal environment which increases risk
ability: speech poverty, avolition Cognitive Explanations
- Low levels of functioning in brain areas
- Metarepresentation dysfunction – unable
Biological Explanations to recognise own thoughts
Genetic - Central control dysfunction – can’t
supress automatic thoughts – leads to
- Risk increases with genetic similarity: 2% speech poverty and thought derailment
cousins, 9% siblings, 48% MZ twins
- Polygenic (108) and aetiologically
heterogenous
Psychological Treatments
- Mutations – more common in over 50s
- CBT therapy helps client understand
Neural
symptoms and normalises them to
- Original Dopamine Hypothesis: reduce anxiety
antipsychotics result similar to - Family therapy reduces negative
Parkinson’s (low dopamine) so emotions and improves family’s ability to
schizophrenia caused by high dopamine help
- Updated Dopamine Hypothesis: high
dopamine in subcortex, low dopamine in
cortex – affected by genetic vulnerability
Management
and stress
- Token economies give gift tokens in
return for good behaviour
Biological Treatments - Improves life in hospitals and normalises
behaviour for outside life
Typical Antipsychotics - Tokens are secondary reinforcers
- Dopamine antagonists block dopamine rewarded immediately to reinforce a
receptors (e.g. chlorpromazine) good behaviour and exchanged for
- Affects histamine receptors – primary reinforcers
calming/sedative effect
Atypical Antipsychotics Interactionist Approach
- Clozapine - Also acts on glutamate and
- Diathesis = vulnerability e.g. genetics,
serotonin receptors so enhances mood –
potentially fatal side effects
repressed childhood trauma
- Risperidone – binds more strongly so - Stress = trigger e.g. parenting, drug
smaller doses and less side effects use (cannabis increase risk 7x)
- Treatment – combine CBT and drugs
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller izzylewington04. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £2.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
