Interactionists Approach

what is the Diathesis-stress Model?

Diathesis means vulnerability. In this context stress is a negative psychological experience. The model suggests that both a vulnerability to sz and a stress - trigger are necessary in order to develop the condition. one or more underlying factor can make a person particularly vulnerable to developing sz but the onset of the condition is triggered by stress.

what is Meehl’s Model (1962)

it is the original diathesis model, where the diathesis or vulnerability was entirely genetic, the result of the ‘schizogene’. This led to the development of biologically based schizotypic personality, a characteristic of which is stress.

what does Meehl argue ?

That if a person does not have the ‘schizogene’ then no amount of stress would lead to schizophrenia. Carriers of the gene however who experience chronic stress through childhood and adolescence and are in the presence of a schizophrenic mother could develop the condition.

list the psychologists in the modern understanding of diathesis?

• Ripke et al 2014

• Ingram and Luxton 2005

• Read et al 2001

what did Ripke et al (2014) establish?

that there is no single ‘schizogene’. A clear departure from meehl’s understanding.

what did Ingram and Luxton 2005 establish?

That modern views of diathesis range beyond genetic to include psychological trauma, the trauma becoming the diathesis rather than the stressor.

what did Read et al (2001) propose?

He proposed a neurodevelopment model in which early trauma alters the brain. Early and severe trauma (child abuse) can seriously affect many aspects of brain development

give an example of the modern understanding of diathesis?

For example, the hypothalamic- pituitary adrenal gland (HPA) system can become over active, making the person much more valuable to later stress