Schizophrenia
Outline and evaluate biological explanations for schizophrenia
There are many different explanations for schizophrenia and the biological one has a major influence on the explanation. There are two different approaches; genetics and the dopamine hypothesis.
The genetic hypothesis argues that sz runs in families and is inherited through genes. According to the genetic hypothesis, the more closely related the family member to the schizophrenic, the greater their chance of developing the disorder. Controlled genetic studies have shown that the risk for a particular individual developing sz is proportional to the amount of genes they share. The genetic approach is supported by Teinari; he concluded a genetic study regarding adoption. He studied 155 adopted children, whose biological mothers had sz. This had a concordance of 10% compared to 1% in adopted children without sz parents. This provides the biological approach with strong evidence that genetics are a risk factor for sz. Gottesman and Sheilds’ study also gives weight to the genetic hypothesis, conducting a study using secondary data. They examined medical records of 57 schizophrenic twins studied between 1948 and 1964. 23 twins were found to be identical and 34 twins were found to be non-identical; if one of the pairs had sz and the other did not, the non-schizophrenic twin was followed and assessed for the next 13 years to see if sz had developed. Gottesman and Shields found that if an identical twin had sz, the likelihood of the other identical twin developing sz was 42%. If the non-identical twin gad sz, the chance of the twin developing sz was 9%. This supports the genetic explanation as it identifies that there is a positive relationship between genetics and likelihood of developing sz. An additional study supporting the genetic hypothesis is Gottesman. He concluded that if both your parents suffer from sz, then you have 46% chance of developing it, compared to a 1% chance of someone selected at
There are many different explanations for schizophrenia and the biological one has a major influence on the explanation. There are two different approaches; genetics and the dopamine hypothesis.
The genetic hypothesis argues that sz runs in families and is inherited through genes. According to the genetic hypothesis, the more closely related the family member to the schizophrenic, the greater their chance of developing the disorder. Controlled genetic studies have shown that the risk for a particular individual developing sz is proportional to the amount of genes they share. The genetic approach is supported by Teinari; he concluded a genetic study regarding adoption. He studied 155 adopted children, whose biological mothers had sz. This had a concordance of 10% compared to 1% in adopted children without sz parents. This provides the biological approach with strong evidence that genetics are a risk factor for sz. Gottesman and Sheilds’ study also gives weight to the genetic hypothesis, conducting a study using secondary data. They examined medical records of 57 schizophrenic twins studied between 1948 and 1964. 23 twins were found to be identical and 34 twins were found to be non-identical; if one of the pairs had sz and the other did not, the non-schizophrenic twin was followed and assessed for the next 13 years to see if sz had developed. Gottesman and Shields found that if an identical twin had sz, the likelihood of the other identical twin developing sz was 42%. If the non-identical twin gad sz, the chance of the twin developing sz was 9%. This supports the genetic explanation as it identifies that there is a positive relationship between genetics and likelihood of developing sz. An additional study supporting the genetic hypothesis is Gottesman. He concluded that if both your parents suffer from sz, then you have 46% chance of developing it, compared to a 1% chance of someone selected at