The concept of “double messages” was developed by the British-American scientist Gregory Bateson when he studied the possible causes of schizophrenia. He drew attention to the fact that in families with a schizophrenic child, he was often given double instructions. Those that either contained mutually exclusive concepts in one phrase, or there was a discrepancy between verbal and nonverbal information. The fact is that a decisive role in understanding the meaning of the message is played by the communication framework, which includes verbal, nonverbal and contextual information. Bateson suggested that schizophrenics are unable to correctly define meta-communication frames. And therefore, in order to “protect the psyche,” they were forced to “escape” from the message they did not understand into symptoms (internal duality, escape from reality, jumping thinking, ignoring, searching for double meaning). In the system of relationships between healthy people, double messages, conscious or not, also play an important role. It’s good if both people are “on the same wavelength,” and then there are no problems with correctly understanding the information. But it often happens differently. Sometimes it comes to conflicts when we feel that the meaning of a phrase is ambiguous, or words and non-verbals (gestures, facial expressions, posture, etc.) diverge, or the phrase is too vague in its meaning, there are a lot of metaphors, associations, lack of specifics. Or there are mutually exclusive phrases - two attitudes that contradict each other. Or the messages can change depending on the situation, adapting to the situation. It's all about one thing - about double messages. The basis of double messages is a paradoxical prescription - based on a contradiction. Very often this model of interaction is “absorbed with mother’s milk” and is unconscious - it’s just that a person himself receives double messages from childhood and then broadcasts them himself. It is difficult for such a person to analyze and realize his feelings, desires, needs, he does not know how to be consistent. Consciously or not, the use of such double messages helps to maintain psychological power and control over another person. Conflicting attitudes keep a person in constant tension, a state of uncertainty, uncertainty about his behavior, because it is impossible to follow such instructions, which means that the victim will always be guilty and wrong. Sometimes the person who is the source of double messages is even called a manipulator. As a rule, situations of double messages arise among people who are in close emotional contact - “mother and child”, “husband and wife”, “boss and subordinate”. For example, a parent at one moment may demand more independence from the child, and in another - he inspires that he is still small and must obey the parent, or without letting him go for a walk, he scolds him for the fact that the child “sits at home all day with a gadget,” or “Did you get a B?..?” Okay, but you can do more! This is a low mark for you, try harder!” and so on. Double messages are also common in romantic relationships. For example, the Husband is against his wife “spending money on cosmetics, clothes, salons” (“You’re already my most beautiful!”). And then he expresses complaints about her appearance (“Somehow you don’t take care of yourself, you look bad!”). Or a wife tells her husband that she doesn’t like flowers so that he doesn’t spend money on them, but then she gets offended that she doesn’t receive bouquets from him. When a boss has a need to assert his authority over his subordinates, to demonstrate power, when there is a desire to suppress the self-esteem of employees, to keep them in constant tension and fear, they also use double messages. For example, a boss, when giving a task, does not give precise instructions, and then blames the employee for not completing the task accurately. Or the boss sets deliberately impossible deadlines for the delivery of a project/impossible revenue plan for his subordinates, after which he receives the “right” to accuse them of unproductivity, and then can take “punitive measures” in the form of demotion, deprivation]