Outline and evaluate the biological approach to psychopathology (12)

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The biological approach to psychopathology suggests that all abnormal behaviour has a physical cause. The biological model assumes that all mental disorders are related to some change in the body, and that mental disorders are like physical disorders i.e. they are illnesses. Research into genes, biochemistry, neuroanatomy and viral infection all suggest a physical cause for mental illness.

For example, Torrey (2001) found that mothers with schizophrenia had contracted a particular strain of influenza during pregnancy. The virus may enter the unborn child's brain, where it remains dormant until puberty, when other hormones may activate it, producing the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Further research that illustrates that mental illness has a physical cause comes from the study of brain biochemistry. E.g. high levels of neurotransmitters, serotonin are associated with anxiety disorders, where low levels have been found in depressed individuals.

Research has also shown that differences in neuroanatomy could be linked to mental illness. For e.g. research has shown that schizophrenics have enlarged spaces (ventricles) in their brains, indicating shrinkage of brain tissue around these spaces.

Abnormalities in brain anatomy or chemistry are sometimes the result of genetic inheritance. Studies of mono zygotic twins (100% genetically identicsl

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