Gregory Bateson’s Double Bonds Theory

Margaret Mead's husband wanted to study schizophrenia by focusing on the family.

Gregory Bateson's theory of the double binds is framed within the systemic model, a conceptual framework that focuses on the interrelationship and interdependence between the members of a system, such as a family, rather than on the characteristics of the components themselves.

This theory was developed with the aim of explaining the psychological causes of schizophreniawhich Bateson associated with inadequate family communication patterns.

Although the double bind hypothesis is now obsolete in this sense, it was a determining factor in the evolution of therapy. decisive for the evolution of systemic therapy..

Biography of Gregory Bateson

Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) was an English anthropologist. who made important contributions to fields as varied as linguistics, epistemology and cybernetic sciences. This was due to his focus on systems theory, a multidisciplinary scientific framework.

His first wife was Margaret Meadthe celebrated anthropologist who contributed to the sexual revolution of the 1960s by studying gender roles in the indigenous tribes of the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Bateson belonged to the Palo Alto School during its initial stage. He and his collaborators, principally Donald Jackson, Jay Haley and John Weakland, were pioneers in the pioneers in the development of family and systemic therapies..

In addition to the theory of the double bind, Bateson studied the evolution of organisms, the concept of homeostasis applied to psychology and anthropology, and scientific methodology, among other topics.

The double bind theory

Double binds are communicative dilemmas due to the contradiction between two or more messages. This leads to the fact that, however the receiver responds, he/she will always be making a mistake; in short, he/she is being told that he/she has to do something but also that he/she cannot do it.

In the double bind, the messages are usually encoded at different levels of abstraction; thus, there is an incongruence between the digital or content level and the analog or relationship level. and the analog or relational level. The typical example is that of a mother who says "I love you" to her daughter or son, but whose body language conveys rejection.

This means that two simultaneous requests or orders are carried out, but it is impossible to fulfill one of them without disobeying the other. According to Bateson, many people in positions of authority use double binds as a tool to control others.

If they occur continuously, as happens in some families, these paradoxes lead the person in the subordinate position to feel anguish about the relationship and insecurity about their own perspective of reality. about his or her own perspective on reality.

Bateson described five main characteristics that define the double bind. These conditions must be met in a given communicative context for the double bind to occur.

1. Interaction between two people

Double binds occur in verbal exchanges between two people. One of the individuals must have respect for the other, who is usually defined as an authority figure.

Although double binds are usually double binds are usually referred to in relation to a child's parents or primary or primary caregivers of a child, it can also occur in teachers, for example.

2. Recurrent experience

Double bonding should not be understood as a one-off situation but rather as a recurrent experience for the individual. For this to happen, most of the time it is sufficient for one of the parents to use double binds on a regular basis.

3. Primary negative command

At the digital or content level of the message, a primary negative mandate has a place; this means that the sender refers to a punishment that will happen if the subject does (or does not) carry out a certain behavior. In the family context this punishment usually implies the deprivation of affection or an expression of hatred and contempt.

4. Secondary negative command

The secondary negative command is produced in the analogical or relational level of the communication.. It consists of an abstract, possibly non-verbal, command that contradicts the primary negative command.

5. Tertiary negative command

Sometimes there is also a third request that prevents the prevents the receiver from escaping from the dilemma. The tertiary negative command implies that the subject cannot metacommunicate, i.e. talk about the incongruence between the primary and secondary commands or the levels of content and relationship.

The causes of schizophrenia

Bateson developed the double bind theory to explain the psychological causes of schizophrenia. the psychological causes of schizophrenia.. He was of the opinion that in his time the diagnosis of this disorder was made too often and sought to delineate the specific patterns by which it developed.

According to this author, the alterations in thought and language that characterize schizophrenia are due to the person's adaptation to a family context in which incongruent interactions occur. In such cases internalizes the contradictory logic of the double bindleading the individual to escape from reality through delirium.

Although Bateson's theory was very influential, the truth is that it has never been confirmed by research. has never been confirmed by research.. At the present time it is believed that the double bond can be considered as a type of stressor of the many that can cause the appearance of psychotic symptoms in biologically predisposed people.

Your contribution to mental health

Current theories on the etiology of schizophrenia propose a combination of genetic and environmental factors. combination of genetic and environmental factors. Psychotic symptoms have a high heritability, but an environmental component (such as substance abuse or family stress) is also necessary for schizophrenia to appear.

Despite its lack of robustness as a hypothesis about the development of schizophrenia, Bateson's double bind theory brought to the table the relevance of communicative and familial patterns in mental health. in mental health. It was also one of the first psychopathological explanations based on General Systems Theory.