Editing Gregory Bateson (section)

=== Double bind theory of schizophrenia ===
{{Main|Double bind}}
In 1956 in [[Palo Alto]], Bateson and his colleagues [[Donald deAvila Jackson|Donald Jackson]], [[Jay Haley]], and [[John Weakland]]<ref name="Bateson, G. 1956"/> articulated a related theory of schizophrenia stemming from [[double bind]] situations. The [[double bind]] refers to a communication paradox described first in families with a schizophrenic member. The first place where double binds were described (though not named as such) was according to Bateson, in [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]'s ''[[The Way of All Flesh]]'' (a semi-autobiographical novel about Victorian hypocrisy and cover-up).<ref>Bateson, ''Steps to an ecology of mind''</ref>

Full double bind requires several conditions to be met:

# The victim of double bind receives contradictory injunctions or emotional messages on different levels of communication (for example, love is expressed by words, and [[hate]] or detachment by nonverbal behaviour; or a child is encouraged to speak freely, but criticised or silenced whenever he or she actually does so).
# No metacommunication is possible – for example, asking which of the two messages is valid or describing the communication as making no sense.
# The victim cannot leave the communication field.
# Failing to fulfill the contradictory injunctions is punished (for example, by withdrawal of love).

The strange behaviour and speech of schizophrenics were explained by Bateson et al. as an expression of this paradoxical situation, and were seen in fact as an adaptive response, which should be valued as a cathartic and transformative experience.

The double bind was originally presented (probably mainly under the influence of Bateson's psychiatric co-workers) as an explanation of part of the [[etiology]] of [[schizophrenia]]. Currently, it is considered to be more important as an example of Bateson's approach to the complexities of communication, which is what he understood it to be.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}