About the lecture

In this lecture, we explore the ‘interactionist approach’ to schizophrenia as an approach which takes account of both biological and psychological factors, focusing in particular on: (i) the diathesis-stress model which suggests that both a pre-existing vulnerability and the presence of stressors in the environment are necessary to trigger schizophrenia; (ii) specific environmental triggers which play a role in schizophrenia, looking at major life events, substance abuse and stress.

About the lecturer

Mr Kevin Silber is a senior lecturer at the University of Derby where he primarily teaches biological psychology modules. Mr Silber is also an AQA A-Level examiner and is involved in authoring texts for A-Level psychology. Having started life as a neuroscientist, Mr Silber’s research interests still lie in biologically oriented topics. However, his main research interest is now focused on body image. Some of Mr Silber’s recent publications include ‘Working memory in children: A developmental approach to the phonological coding of pictorial material’ (2011) and ‘Sexual orientation and the sleep-wake cycle: A preliminary investigation’ (2000).