Double Bind Theory

1956

Gregory Bateson (1904–1980)

A mother visits her son, recently diagnosed as schizophrenic, in the hospital. He hugs her, and she stiffens. He withdraws his contact, and she says, “Don’t you love me anymore?” What does this interaction mean?

(a) I am lovable.

(b) You should love me, and if you don’t you are bad or at fault.

(c) Whereas you did love me previously, you don’t any longer.

Gregory Bateson and his colleagues analyzed this kind of exchange between schizophrenic patients and their parents in Palo Alto, California, during the 1950s and published their now classic article, “Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia,” in 1956. Bateson, a cultural anthropologist, became interested in the communication patterns of families in which there was a child with Schizophrenia. He found that many such families put the child with the disease in a vulnerable place from which there was no easy solution or escape. Bateson called these interaction patterns the double bind.

Based on his observations, Bateson proposed that the disturbed communications of family members might contribute to an onset of schizophrenia. The disturbance came from the dual and conflicting messages that the person with schizophrenia received from a parent or close relative—messages that could not be ignored, yet there was no way to adequately respond to them. As in the example above, if a mother gives the dual message of love and withdrawal, what is the child to do? The messages are on two different but equally powerful levels—verbal and physical. This set up such an intense conflict within the child that a natural response could be withdrawal into a psychotic state.

The double-bind hypothesis of schizophrenia emerged at a time of great interest in the role of families in mental health and illness. Whatever its ultimate merits, Bateson’s theory was provocative and led therapists to think in new and productive ways about treating families.

SEE ALSO The Schizophrenias (1908), Family Therapy (1950)

Jules Being Dried by His Mother by American painter Mary Cassat, 1900. Bateson’s controversial double bind theory put forth the idea that children who consistently receive mixed messages from a primary caregiver are at an increased risk for developing schizophrenia.