The Biological Approach to Abnormality

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Outline the biological approach to psychopathology. (5 marks) The biological approach to abnormality suggests that abnormality is caused by physical factors and implies that mental health is related to some type of physical change in the body. This can be caused by four factors: genes, biochemistry, neuroanatomy and viral infections. According to the biological approach, genetic inheritance is to blame for certain disorders, such as schizophrenia. This has been demonstrated via the use of monozygotic twin studies, due to their identical genetic make up. They are observed for a concordance rate, for example, investigating the fact that if one is diagnosed with depression, whether the other twin is also diagnosed. Some disorders have low concordance rates, such as phobias, whereas some have high concordance rates, such as schizophrenia, which has been found to genetically pass down through 1st degree relatives. In addition to genetic inheritance, the biological approach states that genes can lead to abnormal biochemistry/ neuroanatomy, which is in regards to the development of our brains. The function of genes is to tell the body how to function and to determine the levels of hormones and neurotransmitters in the body. However, they also determine the structure of the brain, e.g. schizophrenia patients were found to have larger ventricles in their brain, indicating shrinkage of the brain tissue. Additionally, research has found that depression is due to an imbalance of hormones and neurotransmitters. Viral infections are the final part of the biological approach to psychopathology, which suggests that some disorders are connected to viruses in utero. Torrey stated that mothers of schizophrenic children had experienced flu whilst pregnant. The consequence of this happening means that the virus enters the child’s brain, where it remains dormant until
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