Reductionism-Holism
Define Holism
The theory that the parts of any whole cannot exist and cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole.
According to this theory, schizophrenia is a result of ________________ in the brain?
dopamine imbalance/ too much or too little dopamine
Antipsychotics are used to suppress ____
Hallucinations and delusions/ positive symptoms
What is an example of a stressful environment?
Drug abuse, Extreme stress/trauma, Pregnancy complications, Brain structure changes during puberty, or similar
What is Time Point 1? (year)
1960s
Define Reductionism
This is the theory that all complex systems can be completely understood in terms of their components.
True or false: Overactivity of the mesocortical pathway can lead to positive symptoms.
False.
True or False: Antipsychotics can cure Schizophrenia.
False. It must be taken throughout one's life.
True or False: According to the Twin Studies, fraternal twins have a higher probability of sharing schizophrenia than their monozygotic counterpart.
False. Monozygotic or identical twins have a higher probability of sharing schizophrenia.
What is Time Point 2? (year)
1990s
Example of theories/concepts that take a Reductionist Approach.
Biological and Behaviorist: Dopamine pathway Theory, Social Learning Theory, or similar.
What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a hormone and a type of neurotransmitter. It plays a big role in your reward system. When you do something that feels good, your brain releases a rush of dopamine.
Are antipsychotics effective as treatment? Explain.
Yes, they are as they help regulate the symptoms, but there may be side effects.
What is the meaning of diathesis?
To have a disposition/ tendency towards something; used in a biological context.
Who wrote the Finnish Adoption Study and what year?
Tienari et al. 1994
Example of theories/concepts that take a Holistic Approach.
Humanistic perspective like Hauora or similar.
What is the difference between the mesolymbic and mesocortical pathways?
What is the difference between typical and atypical antipsychotics?
typical - primarily works to regulate dopamine/ established earlier
atypical - regulates dopamine but also has additional function (like balancing serotonin)/ newer generation drugs
Define and explain how the Diathesis-Stress Model is holistic.
It is the idea that a genetic vulnerability will only occur/present itself in the right environment.
It is holistic because it considers both biological and external factors.
Large doses of this drug can cause people with no psychotic history to develop behavior similar to the schizophrenic.
Amphetamines
Name 1 benefit and 1 limitation of a holistic approach/ explanation.
Any of the following:
Benefits: Provides a more complete picture, takes into account complexity of behavior, considers the influence of many factors so could be more useful
Limitations: Can be difficult to investigate, more hypothetical, lacks predictive power of more scientific explanations, neglects importance of biological influences
Name 1 strength and 1 weakness of the dopamine hypothesis theory.
Strengths: easily to test, considers biological aspect, has some research backing
Weaknesses: is excess dopamine a result of schizophrenia, rather than the cause of it? doesn't consider other dopamine pathways. Too much focus on positive symptoms.
Name 1 typical and 1 atypical antipsychotic (mentioned in class)
Typical: Chlorpromazine or Fluphenazine
Atypical: Clozapine or Olanzapine
Give a summary of the Finnish Adoption Study: *What was done? (300) *What was the result? (200)
They took the offspring of schizophrenic mothers and put them into 3 different households (psychologically healthy, slightly disturbed, severely disturbed).
Those who were in severely disturbed households highest likelihood of manifesting a psychiatric disorder, while the ones in psychologically healthy families had the lowest.
How should the field of clinical psychology change over time? Name 1 change
Among the following or other considerable answers:
- more studies on negative symptoms, since there's a lot about hallucinations and delusions (positive)
- more studies done on wider demographics (nationality/social status)
- reevaluation of DSM-V
- more studies about the modern ways of doing diagnosis in relation to actual theories and approaches being used in the field