Exam (elaborations)
schizophrenia 16 marker questions and exempler answers
- Module
- Schizophrenia
- Institution
- AQA
contains 16 marker exempler answers of an A* grade which is part of the schizophrenia topic in alevel AQA psychology
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Discuss the interactionist approach to explanations of Sz (16 marker)The dopamine hypothesis demonstrates how dopamine is a good example of a
biological vulnerability which is part of the diathesis stress model in the interactionist
approach. Furthermore hyperdopaminergia is when there is too much dopamine in the
cortex of the brain (outside) which can lead to the development of positive symptoms of
Sz e.g hallucinations and delusions. However hyperdopaminergia is when there’s too little
dopamine in the subcortex of the brain (centre) which may lead to negative symptoms
of Sz e.g speech poverty and delusions. This therefore suggests that dopamine is a
biological vulnerability because if there is too much or too less dopamine in the brain it
can give you a more likely chance of developing Sz in the future.
However one weakness of the dopamine hypothesis is that they did research in Sz cases
and found that there were also extremely high and low levels of glutamate in the brain
which demonstrates how dopamine is just a partial explanation as levels of glutamate
may also cause a biological vulnerability. This suggests that glutamate can also be
another example of the diathesis stress model. In addition an example of an
environmental trigger (the other half of the stress model) is expressed emotion.
Expressed emotion (EE) was developed by Brown who concluded that people may have
Sz due to their childhood experiences and living in an environment full of high levels of
criticism, severe hostility from the father and overinvolvement by the mother. Having
experienced these situations suggests that you will be triggered to develop Sz. One
strength of this theory is that they did a cultural study and results showed that Expressed
emotion in households were more common in Iran compared to the UK and USA
because the household upbringing showed most examples of EE e.g fathers were seen
as more hostile and unfriendly to their child if they had Sz and mothers treated their Sz
child as abnormal as they were too involved in their lives and were more cautious for
their child's sake. This overall shows how EE can be an example of an environmental
trigger in the diathesis stress model.
One weakness of the diathesis stress model is that not everyone with Sz has a genetic
vulnerability e.g adoption studies as adoption studies highlight how you can still develop
Sz if you’re in the same environment/conditions as someone who actually has the
disorder. Therefore it highlights that there can also be an environmental vulnerability
which overall demonstrates how the diathesis stress model is too simple. Therefore the
interactionist approach may not be useful to some explanations making the diathesis
stress model unreliable.
, Thea has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her father had also been diagnosed with Sz and
she had a traumatic and unpredictable childhood. She is now taking antipsychotics each day and
attending CBT sessions.
Referring to Thea's experience, discuss the diathesis-stress model in the context of explaining
and treating schizophrenia (16 marks)
Traumatic + unpredictable childhood :
- Expressed emotion - all are environmental triggers
- Double Bind theory
- Family studies
Diathesis stress model has a genetic vulnerability due to an environmental trigger
Treatments :
- Antipsychotics - helps reduce the genetic vulnerability
- CBT
The diathesis stress model is part of the interactionist approach and it states how there is a
genetic vulnerability and an environmental trigger. In this case, Thea has a genetic
vulnerability as her father was also diagnosed with schizophrenia (Sz). Based on family
studies, research has shown that if a family member has Sz, other family members have a
very high risk of also developing the disorder. However one limitation of family studies is
that it doesn’t take into account how the environment can also act as a vulnerability
especially in the diathesis stress model. E.g in adoption studies research demonstrated that
adopted children still had a likelihood of developing Sz if they lived with someone who had
that disorder, this highlights how the environment may cause a vulnerability as well as
genetics. This contradicts the diathesis stress model and suggests that this model is too
simple, this makes it a weakness as it isn’t accurate enough to be generalised to a wider
population. However in this case, it supports the diathesis stress model.
It demonstrates above that Thea has experienced a traumatic and unpredictable
childhood. This is an example of an environmental trigger which in turn supports the
diathesis stress model. One example of an environmental trigger could be the double bind
theory, Bateson concluded that when a parent showed mixed emotions towards their child
it increased chances of the child developing Sz. Furthermore because her father also had
Sz, it may have made her childhood more difficult as the home setting was abruptly
changed.
Treatments that Thea is taking including drug therapy and CBT sessions help reduce
vulnerabilities and therefore this benefits the diathesis stress model and the interactionist
approach overall. Drug therapy of antipsychotics (atypical and typical) blocks dopamine,
glutamate and serotonin receptors in order to either reduce positive or negative
symptoms. One strength of drug therapy is that it is relatively cheap compared to CBT as
CBT is a therapy. However one limitation of antipsychotics is that it causes sever side
effects including tardive dyskinesia, sleepiness and weight gain, this may discourage Thea
from taking them as it could have a risk to her body. On the other hand in typical drugs, it
has chlorpromazine which has a sedative effect on the patient and therefore allows them
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