The double bind is "a situation in which no matter what a person does, he can't
'win'" (Bateson, Jackson, Haley, &
Weakland, 1956, p. 251). The concept is part of "a general communicational approach
to the study of a wide range of human (and some animal) behavior, including schizophrenia as one
major case" (Bateson, Jackson, Haley, & Weakland, 1962, p. 155).
In their original 1956 paper, Bateson et al. defined the necessary ingredients for a double-bind
situation:
- Two or more persons....
- Repeated experience....
- A primary negative injunction....
- A secondary injunction conflicting with the first at a more abstract level, and like the
first enforced by punishments or signals which threaten survival....
- A tertiary negative injunction prohibiting the victim from escaping from the field....
- Finally, the complete set of ingredients is no longer necessary when the victim has
learned to perceive his universe in double bind patterns. (pp. 253-254)*
- Bateson, G., Jackson, D. D., Haley, J., & Weakland, J.
H. Toward a theory of schizophrenia. Behavioral Science 1:
251-264, 1956.
- Bateson, G., Jackson, D. D., Haley, J., & Weakland, J.
H. A note on the double bind.
Family Process 2: 154-161. 1962.
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*Extracted with permission from Simon, Fritz et al Language of Family
Therapy - A Systemic Vocabulary and Source Book (Family Process Press Series)
Paperback 1985 Family Process, Inc.
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