Explanations of Schizophrenia
Describe two explanations of schizophrenia and evaluate these explanations (9 and 16 marks)
Two explanations of schizophrenia are the biological perspective and the psychological perspective. The biological perspective involves genetic factors that influence schizophrenia, however the psychological perspective involves environmental factors in which you learn the behaviour of a schizophrenic.
The first explanation is the biological perspective, it has two subtypes, these are biochemical and genetic. The biochemical type talks about enlarged ventricles in the brain, these are cavities that supply nutrients and remove waste. The reason for enlarged ventricles could be due to an issue with diet. It also talks about the dopamine hypothesis, this is excess neurotransmitters. Dopamine occurs in the limbic system, this plays a major role in regulating emotional and sexual behaviour, attention and thoughts. Amphetamine and cocaine both largely increase levels of dopamine and can cause psychosis, this can sometimes explain attention and thought problems in schizophrenia as the dopamine neurons play a large role in guiding a person’s attention. Anti-psychotic drugs like chlorpromazine are thought to work by binding to dopamine receptor sites. The genetic type goes on to talk about how schizophrenia is found more in biological relatives depending on how close the family link is. Monozygotic twins have a 44.37% of being born with schizophrenia. The PPP3CC chemical is an enzyme which regulates the immune system; it appears to be defective in many patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The second explanation is the psychological perspective; there are many different explanations for schizophrenia that take a psychological view. These contain psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioural and other socio-cultural factors like the role of family and society. Cognitive explanations acknowledge the role that schizophrenia is characterised by thought disturbance. This could be down to
Two explanations of schizophrenia are the biological perspective and the psychological perspective. The biological perspective involves genetic factors that influence schizophrenia, however the psychological perspective involves environmental factors in which you learn the behaviour of a schizophrenic.
The first explanation is the biological perspective, it has two subtypes, these are biochemical and genetic. The biochemical type talks about enlarged ventricles in the brain, these are cavities that supply nutrients and remove waste. The reason for enlarged ventricles could be due to an issue with diet. It also talks about the dopamine hypothesis, this is excess neurotransmitters. Dopamine occurs in the limbic system, this plays a major role in regulating emotional and sexual behaviour, attention and thoughts. Amphetamine and cocaine both largely increase levels of dopamine and can cause psychosis, this can sometimes explain attention and thought problems in schizophrenia as the dopamine neurons play a large role in guiding a person’s attention. Anti-psychotic drugs like chlorpromazine are thought to work by binding to dopamine receptor sites. The genetic type goes on to talk about how schizophrenia is found more in biological relatives depending on how close the family link is. Monozygotic twins have a 44.37% of being born with schizophrenia. The PPP3CC chemical is an enzyme which regulates the immune system; it appears to be defective in many patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The second explanation is the psychological perspective; there are many different explanations for schizophrenia that take a psychological view. These contain psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioural and other socio-cultural factors like the role of family and society. Cognitive explanations acknowledge the role that schizophrenia is characterised by thought disturbance. This could be down to