Schizophrenia is a disintegration of the personality and a split between emotion, thought and behaviour. It is a relatively rare mental illness, with prevalence rates of paranoid schizophrenia in the general population at between 0.5% and 2.5% (DSM-IV-TR estimate, as cited in Graham Davey, 2011). It is a long term condition that has a detrimental effect on perception and feelings, and can cause a diverse array of symptoms. Positive symptoms can include hallucinations (sensory experiences of something not present) and delusions (maintenance of irrational and false beliefs). Negative symptoms can include disorganised speech (speech with poverty of content, word salads), affective flattening (unsociable behaviour with a lack of emotion) and grossly disorganised/ catatonic behaviour (rigid behaviour, in which the sufferer does not move or speak. When all movement stops, this is called a catatonic stupor). This essay will compare and contrast biological and psychological explanations of schizophrenia with reference to their support and downfalls.
Biological explanations of schizophrenia take a reductionist approach when explaining
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The sociogenic hypothesis outlines how low socioeconomic position leads to schizophrenia as these individuals are more likely to encounter stressors that may trigger symptoms. A study in Denmark found that factors associated with low socioeconomic status may lead to schizophrenic symptoms. Factors included unemployment and low income, amongst others (Byrne et al, 2004). The alternate social explanation is the social selection theory. This, however states that psychotic symptoms cause changes to behaviour that mean the individual will suffer a downward drift into unemployment, poverty and the lower socioeconomic classes due to their mental