Caught in the middle of a double‐bind: the application of non‐ordinary logic to therapy

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of Bateson and colleagues' double bind theory, which has been a breakthrough in the history of psychiatry and human behavior because it freed us from the prison of ordinary logic.Design/methodology/approachThe use of non‐ordinary logic, in understanding and in solving seemingly bizarre, over‐the‐lines human behavior, with its three different components: logic of paradox, logic of contradiction and logic of belief.FindingsThis paper presents the work carried out by the Centro di Terapia Strategica of Arezzo, which following the MRI approach, has put together seemingly simple solution to intimidating complex problems.Practical implicationsWith the help of literature and practical‐clinical examples, this paper puts forward the use of non‐ordinary logic in brief strategic therapy in designing simple solutions to complex human problems such as phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders, presumed psychosis and other pathologies.Originality/valueThis work helps therapists and other care‐gives liberate themselves from the constraining chains of ordinary logic, in order to be able to solve human problems that seem unsolvable.