Background: the MRI group and the double bind
In their research on families of people with schizophrenia, Bateson, Jackson, Haley and Weakland (1956) proposed the concept of the double bind: communication in which a person receives contradictory messages (for example, 'come here' said while the body pulls away) yet cannot leave the situation or point out the contradiction. This work continued at the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, California, and together with family systems theory became a foundation of family therapy.
Watzlawick's axioms of communication
In Pragmatics of Human Communication, Watzlawick, Beavin and Jackson (1967) set out the following axioms.
- One cannot not communicate (silence is also a message).
- Every communication has a content level and a relationship level, and the relationship level frames how the content is read (metacommunication).
- The nature of a relationship depends on how the sequence of interaction is punctuated.
- Communication is both digital (verbal) and analogue (non-verbal).
- Interaction is either symmetrical (equal) or complementary (one side leads).
Satir's communication stances
In Peoplemaking (1972), Satir described four dysfunctional communication stances that appear under stress when self-esteem is low, and one functional stance.
- Placating: ignoring oneself, accommodating and agreeing with the other.
- Blaming: ignoring the other, finding fault and trying to control.
- Super-reasonable: ignoring both self and other and talking only about the situation and rules.
- Irrelevant: ignoring self, other and situation and changing the subject.
- Congruent: respecting self, other and situation, with words, feelings and expression matching.
Olson's circumplex model and family communication patterns
Olson's (2000) circumplex model views families along two dimensions, cohesion and flexibility, and treats communication as a facilitating dimension that moves families along them. Fitzpatrick and Ritchie (1994) classified families by high or low conversation orientation and conformity orientation into four types: consensual, pluralistic, protective and laissez-faire.
Use in practice
Family counselling identifies and reflects back repeated interaction patterns and has family members practise 'I-messages', active listening and congruent communication. It is often combined with structural family therapy, which addresses family structure, or Bowen theory, which addresses emotional differentiation.
References
- Bateson, G., Jackson, D. D., Haley, J., & Weakland, J. (1956). Toward a theory of schizophrenia. Behavioral Science, 1(4), 251-264.
- Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J. H., & Jackson, D. D. (1967). Pragmatics of Human Communication. W. W. Norton.
- Satir, V. (1972). Peoplemaking. Science and Behavior Books.
- Olson, D. H. (2000). Circumplex model of marital and family systems. Journal of Family Therapy, 22(2), 144-167.
- Fitzpatrick, M. A., & Ritchie, L. D. (1994). Communication schemata within the family: Multiple perspectives on family interaction. Human Communication Research, 20(3), 275-301.