The double-bind hypothesis a decade later.

Abstract

The double-bind hypothesis and the evidence to support it are critically reviewed. Little theoretical agreement exists about the elements required to generate double-bind situations or the relevant interactional parameters of double-bind communication. The research literature fails to support the assumptions and predictions of the theory. The very existence of a double-bind phenomenon is open to serious question, and it is axiomatic that assertions concerning its differential association with schizophrenic and normal communication processes and its etiological connection with the schizophrenic thought disorder are extremely tenuous. The tenets of the double-bind hypothesis require further limitation, clarification, and operationalization for it to become a reliable phenomenon capable of empirical validation.

Family therapy and the glamour of science

“…As this took place, so family therapists appeared to abandon the concept and replace it with an heir, such as paradox and counterparadox (Selvini Palazzoli et al, 1978), and subsequently, the invariant prescription (Simon, 1987). Could this be explained by waning prestige rather than the failure to confirm the hypothesis in certain limited contexts (Schuham, 1967)? T o survive the pressures of assimilation into the established order, family therapists need to gain status among health care colleagues and preserve their specialist position (De Swaan, 1990).…”

“…The linearcausal hypothesis, the double bind (Bateson et al, 1956), arose from this. This was empirically tested and, as discussed above, was largely unsupported (Schuham, 1967), but in the course of this process, a number of supplementary systemic questions pertaining to how individual disturbance is reciprocally linked to family process, suggested themselves. Breaking the process down into linear statements takes us nearer to the conventional view espoused by Leff and colleagues.…”

Forty-five years of schizophrenia: personal reflections

“…Today I would have focused on the sexual abuse in Mandy's history; back then I would not have thought it important. The shock of finding her grandfather hanging in the basement I would have considered an important precipitant then, as now, but I put most weight in 1961 on what was, in the USA at least, the accepted explanation for schizophrenia symptoms -parents putting children in double bind situations (Bateson, Jackson, Haley and Weakland, 1956;Schuham, 1967;Sluzki, Beavin, Tarnopolsky and Veron, 1967). This is more or less what I would have told Mandy had she asked me why she was sick: 'Your mother expected you to tell her you loved her but she was never there for you and you didn't love her; you hated her.…”

Some Critical Thoughts on Expressed Emotion

“…in particular, its pertinence to family transac tions involving schizophrenics has been re evaluated. Amongst the numerous studies on this subject we recommend: Weakland [I960]; Bateson [1963,1966]; Watzlawick [ 1963,1971]; Schuman [1967]; Olson [1972]; Rabkin [1976]; Berger [1978]; Dell [1980]; Benoit [1981],…”