The Biological Model
- Assumes psychological disorders are physical illnesses with physical causes.
- Major psychological symptoms.
- When same symptoms frequently occur together, they represent a reliable syndrome or disorder.
The Biological Model: Causes
- Genetics- Faulty genes can cause diseases with psychological effects e.g. Huntingtons disease --> leads to deterioration of mental ability.
- Neurotransmitters- Too much/little can cause psychological disorders e.g. too much dopamine linked with schiz.- cocaine increases dopamine --> can cause schiz. like symptoms.
- Infection- <--can cause disorders. General paresis caused by syphillis.
- Brain Injury- Can cause psychological disorders.
The Biological Method of Abnormality: Research
Gottesman- twin studies
Method: carried out meta-analysis of 40 twin studies.
Results: having identical twin gave 48% of having it too. 17% in non identical twins
Conclusion: Schiz. has strong genetic basis.
Evaluation: highe ecological validity --> carried out as field exp.
identical twins share 100% of genes --> both twins might suffer from same conditions.
fam. environment may play a big role --> identical twins treated more similarly than non identical twins.
The Biological Model: Treatments
Drugs- changes neurotransmitter levels in brain. phenothiazines reduce dopamine --> releives symptoms of schiz.
Psychosurgery- brain surgery --> destruction or separation of parts of brain.
The Biological Model: Strengths
- Based on Biology --> a lot of evidence shows biological causes can cause psychological symptoms.
- Ethical- people not blamed for disorders --> they just have an illness.
- Biological therapies help relieve conditions --> couldnt be treated well previously.
The Biological Model: Weaknesses
- Therapies can raise ethical concerns. --> effects of psychosurgery are irreversible.
- Psychological disorders may not be linked to physical probs. --> psychological therapies as effective as biological treatments --> doesn't intefere with biological structure.