Expressed Emotion
- Family dysfunction, particularly communication that is inconsistent, unpredictable, hostile
or highly critical, may contribute to development of schizophrenia
Kavanagh (1992)
- Living in an environment with high levels of EE can cause a relapse
- Schizophrenics in families with high EE are 4x more likely to relapse
Evaluation:
- Cause and effect
- Sense of blame from the mother
Double Bind Theory (Bateson, 1956)
- Individual is regularly trapped in situations where they are presented with conflicting
messages, and can neither comment on the inconsistency nor escape the situation
- Can lead to person perceiving their reality as highly confusing and potentially prompt
schizophrenia symptoms
Evaluation:
- Cause and effect
- Sexist (kids spend more time with their mothers)
- Parents may act the same to all kids, but why do not all kids get schizophrenia?
Socioeconomic Factors
- Due to stress of poverty, urban living, minority status, lower quality of education
- Social drift (those with schizophrenia drift into lower social strata)
Jones et al (1994)
- Longitudinal study on social isolation
- Social interaction is vital for healthy emotional and psychological development
- Lack of social networks may have no-one to provide feedback about their thoughts and
behaviour
Evaluation
- Many studies are self-report
- Can’t explain why schizophrenia is mostly presented in adolescence/early adulthood
- Ignore culture, gender
- Can be out of date
+ Can lead to advances in therapies if studies are done on families
- Family dysfunction, particularly communication that is inconsistent, unpredictable, hostile
or highly critical, may contribute to development of schizophrenia
Kavanagh (1992)
- Living in an environment with high levels of EE can cause a relapse
- Schizophrenics in families with high EE are 4x more likely to relapse
Evaluation:
- Cause and effect
- Sense of blame from the mother
Double Bind Theory (Bateson, 1956)
- Individual is regularly trapped in situations where they are presented with conflicting
messages, and can neither comment on the inconsistency nor escape the situation
- Can lead to person perceiving their reality as highly confusing and potentially prompt
schizophrenia symptoms
Evaluation:
- Cause and effect
- Sexist (kids spend more time with their mothers)
- Parents may act the same to all kids, but why do not all kids get schizophrenia?
Socioeconomic Factors
- Due to stress of poverty, urban living, minority status, lower quality of education
- Social drift (those with schizophrenia drift into lower social strata)
Jones et al (1994)
- Longitudinal study on social isolation
- Social interaction is vital for healthy emotional and psychological development
- Lack of social networks may have no-one to provide feedback about their thoughts and
behaviour
Evaluation
- Many studies are self-report
- Can’t explain why schizophrenia is mostly presented in adolescence/early adulthood
- Ignore culture, gender
- Can be out of date
+ Can lead to advances in therapies if studies are done on families
