<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Double bind theory was formulated in the 1950s by, amongst others, Gregory Bateson, to create a theory about schizophrenia. It is about relationships and what happens when important basic relationships are chronically invalidated via paradoxical messages. The "double bind" theory of schizophrenia (Bateson et al 1956), maintained that the mother sent a mixed message to her child and that this message put the child in a "double bind," e.g., she was alternatingly warm and cold, meaning that he was damned if he responded to one part of the message and damned if he responded to the other (contradictory) part of the message.
This is not unlike the Jewish Mother syndrome. She buys her son two shirts. When he comes downstairs wearing one of the shirts, she says "Oh, you didn't like the other one."<b> The only way out of a double bind message was a "meta-communication," that is, a comment about the communication, etc.</b> That is, it must be more than: "No Mom, actually I liked the other one better, but I am saving it for Sunday." Meta-communication response would be, "Mom, are you trying to make me feel guilty as I go out to have a good time with my new girl friend, tonight?"
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This is not unlike the Jewish Mother syndrome. She buys her son two shirts. When he comes downstairs wearing one of the shirts, she says "Oh, you didn't like the other one."<b> The only way out of a double bind message was a "meta-communication," that is, a comment about the communication, etc.</b> That is, it must be more than: "No Mom, actually I liked the other one better, but I am saving it for Sunday." Meta-communication response would be, "Mom, are you trying to make me feel guilty as I go out to have a good time with my new girl friend, tonight?"
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