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Double bind theory matters historically because it was once proposed as a cause of schizophreniaA long-term mental illness involving episodes of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions.Read more → (a psychotic illness with delusionsA fixed false belief, held with total conviction, that is not shared by the person's culture and is not changed by evidence against it.Read more → and hallucinationsSeeing, hearing, or otherwise sensing things that are not really there.Read more →), even though it is no longer supported as one, and knowing why it was abandoned is itself commonly examined. Bateson proposed that repeated exposure to contradictory messages, given at different logical levels, could contribute to schizophrenia developing. For example, a parent might say 'come here' while their body language signals rejection, and the child cannot comment on or escape the contradiction.

Double bind theory was never supported by good-quality evidence as an actual cause of schizophreniaA long-term mental illness involving episodes of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions.Read more →, and it has been superseded by expressed emotion (a measure of hostility, criticism, and over-involvement in relatives, which predicts relapse rather than onset). In practice, double bind theory is now taught mainly as a historical, now-discredited hypothesis about the origin of schizophrenia, not as an accepted causal mechanism. Expressed emotion, by contrast, remains clinically relevant today for predicting relapse risk in established illness.

• What is the current standing of the double bind as an explanation for schizophreniaA long-term mental illness involving episodes of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions.Read more →?
• Which element must be present alongside the two contradictory messages in Bateson's original account?
• Which related concept, now discredited, attributed schizophreniaA long-term mental illness involving episodes of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions.Read more → to a cold and dominating parent?

• Double bind theory, an unsupported historical hypothesis about the cause (onset) of schizophreniaA long-term mental illness involving episodes of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions.Read more →, unlike expressed emotion, which is a supported predictor of relapse in already-established illness.
• Double bind theory, proposes contradictory messages as causal, rather than the diathesis-stress model, which frames illness as an interaction between vulnerability and environmental stress generally.
• Double bind theory, focuses on parent-child communication, whereas expressed emotion is measured in any close relative or carer, not only parents.

• The idea was researched extensively and was not upheld.
• Twin studies support genetic rather than communication-based aetiology.
• No evidence establishes it as a cause.
• SchizophreniaA long-term mental illness involving episodes of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions.Read more → is multifactorial, with a substantial genetic contribution.
• No prior diagnosis is required for the pattern to occur.

• Name the learning, social or research principle being tested before reading the options.
• Identify the antecedent, behaviour, consequence or cognitive process in the vignette.
• Compare the direction of effect with the nearest competing principle.
• Apply the same rule to a new example to confirm that the answer transfers.