A double-bind is a communication pattern in which a person receives two or more contradictory messages at different logical levels, making any response a failure and trapping the recipient in an inescapable paradox. The primary message asserts one thing while a secondary message (often non-verbal or contextual) contradicts it, and a meta-rule prohibits escaping or commenting on the contradiction. The construct persists through psychological theory, clinical practice, and communication education — transmitted as a diagnostic framework for pathological interaction patterns. [formal: complexum | substrate: behavior | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.37]
Accepted ontology entry
double-bind
A double-bind is a communication pattern in which a person receives two or more contradictory messages at different logical levels, making any response a failure and trapping the recipient in an inescapable paradox. The primary message ass…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made conceptual framework for identifying paradoxical communication patterns where conflicting messages make coherent response impossible — invented by Bateson et al. at the Mental Research Institute, persisted through clinical practice, teaching, and discourse in systems theory and communication studies.
Names and aliases
- double-binden · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmryu61u7022zekkxdqr9ngldINSTANCE_OF →
double-bind IS a specific kind of communication-paradox: a double-bind is a communication structure where contradictory messages at different levels make response impossible. A competent speaker would classify a double-bind as 'a type of communication paradox.' Direction: specific→general, INSTANCE_OF.
- cmrc6dopv00jba9g4op1ivbb1DEPENDS_ON →
A double-bind is a communication scenario with contradictory demands. Remove communication as a medium and a double-bind literally cannot operate — it is inherently a communicative structure. The removal test passes: without communication, the double-bind construct ceases to function. This is not meta-level sayability.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 18, 2026, 5:28 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 5d8989310bbb518a14a5335177160c8b691bda514c531f2570632e1e70b040be