Psychology: The Medical Model

Medical Model of Mental Health

• Views mental disorders as biological malfunctions akin to physical illnesses, emphasizing that treatment should mirror physical health strategies.
• Key factors include biochemical imbalances, genetic predispositions, and brain abnormalities.

Biochemical Overview

• The nervous system contains billions of neurons that transmit information. Dysfunctional behaviors can result from imbalances in neurotransmitters or enzymes.

Schizophrenia and Biochemistry

• The dopamine hypothesis posits excess dopamine activity in synapses as a primary factor in schizophrenia, leading to symptoms like auditory hallucinations.

Genetic Explanation of Mental Disorders

• Disorders are viewed as resultant from phenotype (observable traits) rather than genotype (genetic makeup). Genetic vulnerabilities rather than direct inheritance of disorders like schizophrenia are emphasized.

Phenotype vs. Genotype

• Phenotype refers to observable characteristics, while genotype constitutes the total genetic makeup influencing those characteristics.

Adoption Studies and Genetics

• Adoption studies compare disorder rates between adopted children and their biological/adoptive parents to assess genetic influence. Higher rates linked to biological parents suggest a genetic component.

Schizophrenia and Genetic Influence

• Current theories support genetic influence rather than direct genetic causation of schizophrenia; sharing more genetic material with affected individuals increases schizophrenia risk.

Brain Abnormalities in Schizophrenia

• Observed abnormalities include enlarged ventricles and dysfunction in the ventral striatum, especially relating to negative symptoms like avolition.

General Brain Abnormalities

• Damage or irregular functioning in certain brain areas can lead to abnormal behaviors.

Gottesman Study: Aim, Method, and Participants

• Aimed to evaluate the risk of severe mental health disorders in individuals with affected parents.
• Included 2.6 million Danes (aged 10+) and studied 196 couples diagnosed with severe disorders.

Gottesman Study: Procedure

• Utilized a national register-based cohort study from the Danish Civil Registration System linking participants to their parents.
• Collected data included participants' age, sex, vital status, and psychiatric admissions since 1970.

Gottesman Study: Results

• Risk of schizophrenia was 27.3% in couples where both parents were affected.
• A single affected parent resulted in a 7% risk, whereas no affected parents presented a 0.48% risk.

Gottesman Study: Conclusions

• If both parents have severe mental illness, the likelihood of offspring developing similar disorders increases, supporting the genetic link to mental health issues.

Treatment: Atypical Antipsychotics

• Newer medications like Clozapine are effective in reducing both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Treatment: Typical Antipsychotics

• Older medications such as Haloperidol primarily address positive symptoms with limited impact on negative symptoms.

Drug Therapy Mechanism

• Schizophrenics experience excess dopamine release and increased receptor activity which can be targeted through pharmacological interventions.