Double bind

[metanymous]

Not to be confused with Double-blind. Double Bind is a communicative situation where a person receives different or contradictory messages. The term was coined by the anthropologist Gregory Bateson, and was an attempt to suggest a possible mechanism or underpinning for schizophrenia from an anti-biologist perspective (in other words to proffer an explanation without requiring the assumption of organic brain dysfunction). The phenomenon itself was functionally observed in its negative sense, and utilised in a therapeutic context, by Milton Erickson.
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Double_bind/id/464639