Bateson's Socio-Psychological Theory and the Language of Schizophrenics - A Linguist's Point of View.

This article contests two main claims still held in pertinent literature: that by the theory of the "double-blind," developed by Bateson; the "double-blind" theory hypothesizes the schizophrenia is caused by undue parental behavior, particularly that by the mother such that the child is confronted with an illogical attitude of his mother's that (s)he cannot solve or compensate him/herself; and, second, Navrati's claim that schizophrenic psychosis stimulates the ill person in such a way that (s)he develops creative faculties equal to that of "normal" poetic writers. The contention rests on two types of support: one by recent insight into the nature of the illness; and research psychologists making use of computer implementation of detailed linguistic and psychological parameters which are then tested empirically. Based on such insights, the nature of literary explanation of the work of schizophrenic authors such as Kafka and Herbeck is rejected.