AO1
DIATHESIS-STRESS MODEL – ORIGINAL
- DIATHESIS = VULNERABILITY / STRESS = NEGATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE
- MEEHEL’S MODEL: ENTIRELY GENETIC through a SINGLE ‘SCHIZOGENE’ = a SCHIZOTYPIC PERSONALITY which has the characteristic that it is SENSITIVE to STRESS
WITHOUT THE GENE: NO AMOUNT of STRESS can lead to SCHIZOPHRENIA
CARRIERS of the GENE: CHRONIC stress through CHILDHOOD and ADOLESENCE
DIATHESIS NOW
- NO SINGLE GENE (RIPKE ET AL) and involves PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA (INGRAM + LUXTON)
- TRAUMA = DIATHESIS à READ ET AL: NEURODEVELOPMENT model that shows that EARLY TRAUMA ALTERS the DEVELOPING BRAIN especially CHILD ABUSE etc.
e.g. HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY ADRENAL (HPA) can become OVER-ACTIVE and MORE VULNERABLE
STRESS NOW
- ANYTHING that RISKS TRIGGERING SCHIZOPHRENIA – MOST RECENT research concerned factors such as CANNABIS = INCREASES STRESS BY 7 TIMES
TREATMENT
- ANTI-PSYCHOTIC MEDS + PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES (CBT)
- TURKINGTON ET AL: PERFECTLY POSSIBLE to believe in BIOLOGICAL CAUSES and practice CBT BUT needs INTERACTIONALIST MODEL and is not possible with a PURELY BIOLOGICAL APPROACH
- In BRITAIN: is standard to have a combination of the two // USA: had a CONFLICT and SLOWER ADAPTION to this approach
AO3
- DON’T KNOW EXACTLY HOW IT WORKS: LOTS of EVIDENCE of underlying VULNERABILITY and STRESS AND know that it may lead to SYMPTOMS BUT DON’T understand the MECHANSMS by which the symptoms APPEAR
- SUPPORT FOR THE EFFECTIVE OF TREATMENT : TARRIER ET AL: 315 patients were RANDOMLY ALLOCATED to a MEDS + CBT group, MEDS + SUPPORTIVE COUNSELLING group or a CONTROL group (just MEDS) = COMBINATIONS showed LOWER SYMPTOMS levels
- ORIGINAL IS OVER-SIMPLE: MULTIPLE GENES = HIGHER VULNERABILITY – NO SINGLE ‘SCHIZOGENE’ and STRESS can be more than DYSFUNCTIONAL PARENTING à NEW: DIATHESIS – EARLY TRAUMA and GENES + STRESS – CANNABIS
- EVIDENCE OF ROLE OF THE VULNERABILITY AND TRIGGERS: TIENARI ET AL: GENETIC VUL and PARENTING STYLE (trigger) – ADOPTED from 19,000 FINNISH mothers with SCHIZOPHRENIA between 1960 + 1979 – assessed CHILD REARING STYLE and tested with CONTROL without a GENETIC RISK = had HIGH CRITICISM and LOW EMPATHY within their parenting style in the GENETIC RISK GROUP