Outline one Psychological explanation of Schizophrenia

The psychodynamic explanations: family systems theory devised by Fromm-Reichmann says that Schizophrenia (Sz)is caused by Schizophrenogenic Mothers. She argued that this type of Mother would send mixed messages to the child. She would be cold and distant yet demanding and severe, she rejects the child but still forces the child to express emotion. It is these mixed messages that are thought to cause Schizophreni. Fromm-Reichmann also noted a link between Sz families and those with high emotional tension, conflict and secrets. Broun et al explored the idea of expressed emotion in their 9 month follow up study of previous Sz sufferers and found that in families with a high expressed emotion there was a 58% relapse compared to a 10% relapse in low expressed emotion families, suggesting a clear link between high expressed emotion levels and relapse.

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Answered by Ailish C. Psychology tutor

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