14 (a) Describe what psychologists have learned about schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is one of the most common psychotic disorders.

One of its puzzling features is that schizophrenics may at one time communicate clearly, have an accurate view of reality and function well in their daily while at other times their speech and thoughts may be distorted, and they lose touch with reality. Schizophrenia exacts heavy cost as according to Narrow et al (1993), 90 percent of people with schizophrenia seek treatment in a mental health facility or general medicine facility in any given year. Psychologists have classified schizophrenia with DSM IV model along with other disorders such as Schizophrenic form, schizoaffective disorder, Delusional Disorder, Brief Psychotic disorder, Shared psychotic disorder and substance induced disorder. This disorder shows type I (positive) symptoms and type II (negative symptoms). All positive symptoms include Delusions, Hallucinations, Disorganized thoughts and speech, catatonic Behavior and Attention Deficits and negative symptoms include Affective flattening, Algoia (poverty of speech) and Avolition (inability to persist at common goaldirected activities) Other forms of symptoms are inappropriate affect, Anhedonia and impaired social skills. Schizophrenic symptoms vary culturally. It is highly unlikely that people will experience similar types of delusions across different cultures (Tateyama, Asai, Hashimoto, Bartels and Kasper 1998). For example, urban whites in the United States might fear that the central intelligence is after them while afro Caribbeans may believe that people are killing them with curses. Some theorists also believe that people who hold extreme manifestations of their cultures shared belief systems are delusional. For example if a girl believes that she her dead relatives are tormenting her by causing her heart and lungs to rot would be considered delusional despite her belief of deceased watching over living. Hallucinations as well, vary culturally. For example an Asian will hallucinate on ghosts haunting them while Europeans may have an entirely different content of their hallucinations ( Westmeyer 1993). Rate of Schizophrenia varies with different factors. According to psychologists, schizophrenia develops in the late teens and in the early adults and it is more common amongst mens than womens. Womens they tend to have better premorbid (pre disorder) than men (Goldenstein, 1995). This may be because womens develop it later in life, often in their late twenties than men who develop them in their late teens. Rate of schizophrenia also varies with the ethnicity. According to Escobar, (1993) in United States, highest rate of schizophrenia is found amongst African American, than amongst white and the lowest rate is found amongst Hispanic Americans. Some of the differences between rates of schizophrenia in different countries are also due to how narrowly or broadly schizophrenia is defined. European researchers have a more stringent criterion of schizophrenia than Americans do. (Gottesman, 1991).

(b) Some theories of schizophrenia take a nature perspective, others a nurture perspective. Use evidence to justify why either nature or nurture is more important in explaining schizophrenia. Psychologists have argues over time to determine whather nature or nurture is effective toe explain schizophrenia. Though we know that nature and nurture both helps in defining schizophrenia but what debate out weighs the other one, is still yet to be determine In nature, we look at the biological reason for the cause of schizophrenia in an individual. Family, twin and adoption studies have all provided evidence that genes are involved in the transmission of schizophrenia. Some researchers have argued for a polygenic, additive model, in which it takes a certain number and configuration of abnormal genes to create schizophrenia (Gottesman 1991; Gottesman and Moldin 1998). Having more distorted genes increases the likelihood of developing schizophrenia. These genes are inherited in the offsprings by their biological parents. Children and monozygotic twins of people with schizophrenia have the greatest risk of schizophrenia at some times in their lives. This has been found by psychologist Irvin Gottesman who compiled over 40 studies to determine the lifetime risk for developing schizophrenia with different family relationships to a person with schizophrenia. Another early classic adoption study was conducted by Leonard Heston (1966) who interviewed children of 47 schizophrenic mothers diagnosed in Oregon state mental hospital. All this children had been either placed into orphanages or were adopted shortly after their birth. Hetson found out that the rate of schizophrenia was higher in the adopted children than the average rate of children with schizophrenic parents. Some studies have also shown that family members of people with schizophrenia also exhibit several neuroanatomical abnormalities. Some epidemiological studies. All these studies generalize to the children who have parents with schizophrenia However Biological approach did not succeed in determining the explanation of schizophrenia. Some studies that show that family members exhibit several neuoroanatomical abnormalities have inconsistent evidence across studies (Cannon 1996; Sharma et al 1998). Similarities between could be due to biological or due to environmental factors. Some studies shoe that out of monozyotic twins, only one has schizophrenic genes and some schizophrenic twins do not even have an identical genetic makeup. These studies argue against a genetic contribution to schizophrenia in families. Some epidemiological studies which shows higher rate of schizophrenia amongst children with thir mother exposed to influenza virus also could not find out the specific mechanism by which prenatal exposure to viral infection to schizophrenia (Kirch, 1993)

The type and location of the gene or the genes that causes the schizophrenia are still unknown to biologists. (McGue and Bouchard 1998). Furthermore There may be forms of schizophrenia that may not be transmitted genetically. As many as 89 percent of peole with schizophrenia have no known family history of schizophrenia (Cromwell and Sydner 1993; Gottesmand and Moldin,1998) However Nature approach may be too reductionist and completely ignores the other possibility of social, and psychological theories that may cause schizophrenia. Those theories are not innate and nurtured depending on an individual personality or on the environment that person is living in. Biological factors cannot explain everything about schizophrenia such as why one twin has a disorder but the other one does not and why some people are badly affected by the disorder throughout their lives while others achieve a higher level of functioning. Early psychodynamic theories suggested that schizophrenia resulted from overwhelmingly negative experience in early childhood between a and his or her primary caregivers. Freud (1924) argues that when mothers are extremely harsh and withhold their love form the child, he or she regresses to infantile level of functioning and the ego loses its ability to distinguish reality from unreality. Another socioeconomic factors affecting schizophrenia are that schizophrenics are more like to live in a place with more stressful circumstances such as in impoverished inner-city neighborhoods and in low-status occupation or unemployment (Dohrenwend et al 1987). Most research supports a social selection explanation of this link. According to this explanation, the symptoms of schizophrenia interfere with a persons ability to to function in a daily life. One of the classical studies showing the process social selection tracks the socioeconomic status of men with schizophrenia and compares it with the status of their brother or fathers (Goldberg & Morrison 1963). The men with schizophrenics were like to be in a lower class than their fathers or brothers. Several studies have also shown that people with schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis (such as psychotic bipolar disorder) are more likely to have been born in a large city than in a smaller town (Kendler et al, 1996; Lewis et al, 1992; Takei et al, 1992, 1995; torrey, Bowler and Clark 1997; van Os et al, 1997) The studies and researches mentioned above generalize the positive results obtained on using nurture debate to define schizophrenia. However many behaviorists, cognitive psychologists and modern psychodynamic theorists see schizophrenia as a result of biological factors. The behavioral theorists of how schizophrenia develops have not been well tested or accepted. Even the few cognitive theorists concerned with schizophrenia accept that fundamental defects in perception and attention has biological bases and other symptoms such as delusions, develops as schizophrenic person attempts to explain and make sense of these strange perception and senses. (Garety, 1991; Maher, 1974; Zimbardo, Anderson and Kabat, 1981). Most modern sociocultural theories suggest that environmental factors probably o not cause schizophrenia but can play an important part in determining the course of the disorder. For example in one study researcher followed 30 people with schizophrenia for one year, interviewing them every two weeks to determine if they had any stressful events, it was found that

over half the people in the study who has a relapse of schizophrenia had not experienced negative life events just before their relapse. In addition, other studies suggests that many of the life events that people with schizophrenia experience in the weeks before they relapse may actually be caused by prodromal symptoms that occur just before a relapse (Dohrenwend et al 1987) These studies suggested above generalize the negative results using nurture debate to define schizophrenia. Either nature or nurture is more effective in defining schizophrenia as we can see with above research that biologists have not yet been able to determine the genes that cause schizophrenia. However they did determine that there are many genes that together cause the disorder. Also many schizophrenics have a history of birth complications and prenatal exposure to viruses. Nurture debate may be less effective than nature as many psychodynamic and social cultural theorists believe the roots for schizophrenia are biological. Hence nature approach will define schizophrenia more effectively.

Shooting Schedule October: 5th October 10th October 12th October 20th October 22nd October 24th October 26th Visit and decide on locations Finalized Treatment Prepare a script Shooting 1st day Shooting 2nd day Shooting 3rd day Shooting 4 day
th

Location

Time

Mariums House Steel town School Mariums House

3:00 to 6:00 3:00 to 6:00 11:00 to 2:00 3:00 to 6:00