1. Schizophrenia – Psychological Explanations 2 The Psychodynamic Explanation (Freud)

2. Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation Based on the work of Sigmund Freud (1924) Here is the background: All children go through the Psychosexual Stages of Development: Oral (birth – 18m) Anal (18 – 36m) Phallic (3 – 6 years) Latency (6 years – Puberty) Genital (Puberty onwards)

3. Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation Problems at any stage can lead to fixation, in which the libido becomes attached to that stage for many years Then later in life adults experience regression: Their behaviour becomes less mature And resembles their conduct at the stage to which they have regressed

4. Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation Don’t forget what the EGO does… It is associated with rational, conscious processes Works on the Reality Principle, which means it strives to accommodate environmental demands in a realistic way

5. Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation So… Freud’s explanation of S goes like this: 1. Most adults with S experienced a very harsh childhood usually due to cold & unsupportive parents therefore they fixate at early stages

6. 2. S develops when the adult regresses back to the earliest stage before his or her ego had developed, usually to the stage of narcissism (great self interest) which occurs early in the oral stage. Therefore: The person ceases to operate on the Reality Principle and loses touch with reality Regression back to a childhood stage of development leads to symptoms such as delusions of grandeur and creation of neologisms (new words) Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation

7. Don’t forget: The ID is self-indulgent and concerned only with a satisfaction of his/her needs There is a need to gratify these impulses but for most of us, our experiences in the real world result in EGO controlling the urges People with schizophrenia are overwhelmed by anxiety because their egos are not strong enough to cope with id impulses In schizophrenia, this can lead to self-indulgent symptoms such as delusions of grandeur – eg. thinking you’re Jesus Christ. Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation

8. 3. When the individual finds himself reduced to an infantile state: They try to regain EGO control to get contact with reality back Eg. they may experience hallucinations as a way of substituting for a lost sense of reality At this stage the id and the ego are not separate and the id causes strong sexual impulses Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation

9. Positive AO2: Freud’s Theory has explanatory power as to why the condition: Often begins in late adolescence / early adulthood via strong sexual impulses (ID is seen taking over from weak / broken EGO so libido runs unchecked) Can involve catatonia, where someone with S will sit rigidly for hours (an infantile behaviour explained by regression) Can involve hallucinations such as imaginary friends (another classic childhood behaviour explained by regression) However, the explanation that sufferers of the disease are on par with infants is considered “not very sensible” by Eysenck (1995).

10. Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation Negative AO2: This explanation is reductionist as it suggests that schizophrenia has its origin is solely in the mind and ignores biological and environmental factors which have been shown to be very important At best it’s only be a partial and tenuous explanation of some symptoms, e.g. delusions & hallucinations There are ethical issues as Freud is effectively denying the very experience of patients with schizophrenia

11. Negative AO2: Freud’s assertions are unscientific and extremely difficult to test, for example concepts such as ‘repression’ are difficult to observe and measure, although this difficulty doesn’t invalidate the theory The theory is based on unrepresentative samples & case studies, from which it is difficult to generalise. This theory of S fails to account for gender differences - the onset for males is around 20 years, and for females 30 years Schizophrenia – Psychodynamic Explanation