Evaluation

Question 1

Evaluate the validity of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia.

Answer 1

• Evidence to show that is lacks vaidity - 8pseud patients admitted to hositals saying they could hear voices - despite acting normally on admission it took 7-52 days to be released having being diagnosed wig schizophrenia - shows that psychiatriacs are not able to distinguish between real and pseudo patients of schizophrenia - ethical complications around this

Question 2

Evaluate the gender bias of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia.

Answer 2

• There are a varienty of types of schizophrenia - females tend to first develop it on average between 4 -10 years later than males or as a form of post menopausal schizophrenia - suggests that male and females may be vulnerable to different types of schizophrenia and the DSM does not acknowledge subtypes
• Different diagnostic considerations may need to occur when deteting schizophrenia in males and females as findings indicate that there are gender specific factors that impact the symptom and progression of schizophrenia as well as treatment

Question 3

Evaluate the culture bias of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia.

Answer 3

• May play a role in the over diagnosis of Afro-Caribbeans pop in UK - reported in Birmingham that two thirds of patients detained in hospitals were first and seconds generations - the other third was white and asian - suggests there is over diagnosis in the black population

Question 4

Evaluate the co-morbidity of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia.

Answer 4

• Jeste stated that people with schizophrenia with co morbidity are excluded from research - yet most patients have co morbidity which questions the validity of the classification and diagnosis of the conditions
• High levels of co morbid disorders have a egg ued thavthe are subtypes of the disorder - depressions and anxiety or substance abuse could represent the distinct subtypes of schizophrenia - challenges validity

Question 5

Evaluate the symptom overlap of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia.

Answer 5

• Research compared 14 patients with autism and 14 schizophrenic oatients and found that noneof the schizophrenic had synptoms of autism but 7 autistic patients had symptoms of schizophrenia
• Ketter argued that misdiagnosis due to symptom overlap can cause years of delay in treatments - during this time suffering and further degeneration can occur as well as high levels if suicide

Question 6

Evaluate Genetic explanations for schizophrenia.

Answer 6

• Concordance rate for twin studies are not 100% for MZ twins means that schizophrenia cannot wholly be explained due to gees
• Biologically deterministic - People aren’t in control of their actions
• Biologically reductionist as only considers the larger influences like role of cognition

Question 7

Evaluate Neural Correlate explanations for schizophrenia.

Answer 7

• Biologically reductionist as doesn’t consider environmental influence or role of cognition
• Biologicaly deterministic - just because people have excessive amounts of dopamine doesn’t mean they will develop schizophrenia - Helps in developments of treatments - recognised that hormones are responsible for symstoms - therefore drug therapy

Question 8

Evaluate Family Dysfunctions explanations for schizophrenia.

Answer 8

• Psychologists fo not consider the role of biology in the development - only focuses in aspects if human experience - reductionist
• Socially sensitive research - can kead to mother receiving most of the blame - families also may take care of their family who has the disorder (beng blamed adds to the injury of the responsibility)

Question 9

Evaluate Cognitve explanations for schizophrenia.

Answer 9

• They are descriptive and do not establish a cause - they explain how links of symptoms occur due to faulty thinking, however how that faulty thinking is caused is not explained
• Helps in developments of treatments - recognised that faulty thinking is responsible for symstoms - therefore challenging these cognitions - CBT
• Dysfunctional thought processing is vital yet it is supported by the idea that it is due to abnormal brain developemnt - partly genetic/neural - questions the reductionsism

Question 10

Evaluate Drug Therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Answer 10

• Cheap and easier to use than administer and housing patients in hospitals
• May give side effects - people are trying to escale the symptoms yet receive side effects from drugs
• May forget to take them, therefore not making them effective

Question 11

Evaluate Cognitive Behaviour Therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Answer 11

• Not suitable for all patients - those who are too disoriented or paranoid to form alliances with practitioners - it also is difficult to work effectively if they are bot taking medication to help them access the therapy
• Requires trained prfessional to deliver the sessions over several months makingit incredibly costly and time consuming
• Depends in the skill if the practitioner - if patients are not willing to build up a connection due to the lack of trust - it reduces the effectiveness

Question 12

Evaluate Family Therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Answer 12

• Family members may be unwilling to share or not remember information from the past if their private Homelife - reduces validity
• Can be useful for patients who lack insight into or can’t speak coherently about it - members ca assist them - have insight into their mood swings and behaviour and can speak for them if needed

Question 13

Evaluate Token Economy Programmes as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Answer 13

• Issue with token economies is that privileges and services become more available to latients with mild symptoms- thise with more severe symptoms of schizophrenia prevent them from complying with desirable behaviour - more severely ill patients receive more discrimination

Question 14

Evaluate the Interactionist Approach as an explanation for schizophrenia.

Answer 14

• Psuchologists do not fully understand how the combination of a vulnerability and stress can lead to schizophrenia - there is evidence to suggest that there is a link between the two, however there is no explanation of how the symptoms of schizophrenia are produced
• Considers both biological and psychological factors - less reductionist - however other processes may be under-lied

Question 15

Evaluate the Interactionist approach as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Answer 15

• They are not cost effective - biological andosychological treatments are costly than just giving antipsychotic drugs
• Tarrier found that although the combination of therapies reduced symptom levels, it did not reduce their readmission to hospital
• A combination often is effective as it addresses disordered thinking which allows therapists to be effective in teaching functional social skills and when to apply them in real life situations (drugs reduce symptoms in order for psychological therapy to be more effective)

Question 16

Evaluate the reliability of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia.

Answer 16

• Even if the systems aren’t perfect they still provide a common laguage of research ideas and findings - may lead to a better understanding of the disorder and the development of effective treatments
• Nilson reported a 60% concordance rate between pratitionoers usng the ICD systems - the concordance rate with clinicians with the DSM is higher it suggests that this system is more reliable than ICD