Genetics v. Psychosocial explanation

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  • Created by: Luciieee
  • Created on: 01-04-15 16:48

Genetics v. Psychosocial explanation

Similarities

  • Research indicates that may inherit a biological predisposition to schizophrenia
  • e.g. relatives of those with schizophrenia have higher incidence rate than in general population (1%) - concordance rate increases the closer the relative is - immediately indicates that some form of genetic link must exist
  • Supported by Gottesman and Shields - meta-analysis of 40 studies - monozygotic (MZ) twins 48% concordance rate, dizygotic (DZ) twins 17% - must be genetic link as MZ twins share 100% of genes compared to 50% DZ and concordance rate is higher for them
  • However, clearly cannot be 100% genetic cause as concordance rate for MZ twins would be 100% - therefore while genetics is likely to play a role in development of schizophrenia, cannot be only cause

Differences

  • Family you are raised in influences development of schizophrenia
  • Bateson et al - Double-bind hypothesis - when families give contradictory info. to children e.g. saying you want hug but pulling away when they try - causes confusion + self-doubt in child and lose confidence in ability to express themselves
  • Brown et al - Expressed emotion (EE) - extremes of emotional content in conversations and daily life e.g. high levels of hostility and criticism and over-concern with others
  • Research has shown that schizophrenics returning to family with high EE levels were more likely to relapse into disorder than families with low EE levels esp. if no medication used - strong correlation here indicates that EE may play large role in development of schizophrenia
  • Can't establish cause and effect - may be that having schizophrenic individual return to family may cause tensions and increase EE level - may actually be a vicious cycle whereby having patient return home increase EE levels which in turn worsens schizophrenic symptoms

Overall comparison

Impossible to establish which explanation is correct - is it actually a genetic link which means relatives of those w. schizophrenia have an increased incidence rate or is it because the family members are both in high EE environment - perhaps combination of both approaches would be most appropriate

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