These AQA A-Level Psychology notes for Paper 3 are designed to help you achieve top AO3 marks without relying on key studies. They offer in-depth critical analysis of psychological theories, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, and providing balanced, well-structured evaluations. With clear compa...
Schizophrenia:
Realisability of diagnosis:
• using a classification system improved diagnosis> over
has become more refined as both DSM and ICD have
been updated
• Clients get the help they need through the correct
treatment programme
• The three sets of factors outlined by Ward show that
diagnosis is easily flawed
Co-morbidity
• Hard to tell apart bipolar disorder and schizophrenia>
latest DSM-5 moved to make it a spectrum disorder, tried
to remove subtypes which makes it unhelpful
• The high levels of co-morbid symptoms seen in
schizophrenia suggest it is not a clearly defined mental
illness, there are problems with validity of diagnosis
• There is some confusion in the diagnosis, this is
compounded when clients also overuse alcohol or
cannabis> leads to lower levels of functioning and a
worse outcome for the client
Culture bias:
• DSM- 5 acknowledges that there has been cultural bias in
diagnosis in the past, and calls attention to the clinician to
understand that different cultures describe their illnesses
in different ways> means diagnosis is fairer in future
,• In many cultures it is a norm to claim to have heard
voices or seen people who have died. Rack suggests
people showing this behaviour in the West are more likely
to be seen as psychotic and diagnosed with schizo
• Some researchers argue that racism and social deprivation
experienced by immigrants are likely to affect mental
health but that clinicians wrongly attribute this to their
ethnicity
Gender bias
• The fact that there are clear differences in age of onset
and how the illness is experienced by men and women
suggests that there are problems with the validity of the
diagnosis. Castle and Murray suggests that women
experience ‘affective psychosis’ not schizophrenia
• Seeman studied gender differences in the social outcome
of people with schizophrenia> found that women live
better lives with schizophrenia than men
• Differences between men and women in their experience
of schizophrenia have been ignored until recently> now
clearer to see that women respond better to medication
and have better outcomes because they are typically in
relationships and have support on onset of the condition
Symptom overlap
• neuroscience shows clear differences in brains of people
with schizophrenia, not shown in other conditions or with
drugs, it is possible that scanning technology may
ultimately help diagnosis and there will be less symptom
overlap
• Ketter points out that misdiagnosis due to symptom
overlap could lead to the wrong treatment and needless
suffering or even suicide
, • The distinctive positive characteristics of each condition
are used to aid practitioners to distinguish people who
may need a dual or single diagnosis
The dopamine hypothesis:
• has generated huge amounts of research and driven drug
treatments that have had some success in treating people
with schizophrenia
• Has been criticised as over simplistic and inconclusive,
we know that more than just dopamine is involved in the
condition. This does not explain the negative symptoms
of schizophrenia
• Now possible to indirectly measure dopamine levels
through scanning technology> compares healthy people
with those of schizophrenia
Neural correlates
• not all people with schizophrenia show enlarged
ventricles, again raised doubts that it is a single condition
• Ho et al shows by re-scanning patients, that brain
differences increases over time as symptoms worsen,
despite being on medication> this helps establish a
stronger causal relationship
• Co-morbid factors such as addiction and stress need to be
considered as confounding variables in many patients.
These will also affect brain tissues
Family dysfunction explanation
• family therapy has been shown to be more effective in
achieving a more positive outcome in patients with
schizophrenia> supports the theory
• Expressed emotions is a communication style that
involves criticism, over-involvement. A patient resting to
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