Towel of Babel :Double-Binds in Psychiatry Part 1

http://www.successfulschizophrenia.org/articles/dblbinds.html
In these examples at successful schizophrenia the patient is well educated AND can communicate his thoughts.
What if the patient is not well educated? Does not know how to form sentence, does not know how to converse.
What if the patient can not communicate?

Whenever she gets stuck in a conversation, she tends to stare, making people around her uncomfortable. She doesn't mean to be impolite - it's just her way of watching and learning. --

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"Social Skills

Social inability can be a lifelong problem. Therefore it is imperative that social skill deficits be identified early and addressed in much the same way as we identify and address children's learning problems because social incompetence can be more debilitating and detrimental to success in life than learning problems.

There are several types of social skills that must be mastered for a child to be socially adept. These range from the ability to initiate, maintain and end a conversation to reading social signals to more complex skills such as solving problems and resolving conflict. The following examples represent some of the fundamental principles of relating well to others. Children with social skill deficits can be taught these skills directly by parents, teachers and/or professionals using the strategies of modeling, role-playing, rehearsal and practice."


Successful Schizophrenia excerpt

The resident said "Tony, your behavior is sick. We can treat you here as an out-patient, but you must understand you are mentally ill before we can make any progress."

Tony shouted "No, I'm not. You doctors are crazy if you think I'm mentally ill!"

Doctor: (voice raised) "We've argued about this before. You must believe you are mentally ill or we can't help you."

Tony's face got red. His nostrils flared. His breathing quickened. He yelled, "I'm not mentally ill!"

Tony's wife reached over and put her hand on his arm.

The doctor yelled "Yes you are!"

Tony yelled "No I'm not!"

Doctor: "Yes you are!"

__________________

Ron: "Yes. Everyone is trying to brainwash me. My wife, my parents, the sales manager. Everyone is trying to push their thinking into my head."

"How do you feel about all this?"

Ron: "I feel angry. They say they have done this to help me, but they don't care about me. They're all selfish. Afraid I'll upset their tight little worlds. I shouldn't be here."

What happens when the patient can't live up to the expected standards of communication is then they are judged severely mentally ill.

Would I have misperceived some of the humming as psychosis? Which medications would I have started?

Everything I would have done-- wrong.

Maybe then drugged , maybe because the patient is angry at not being understood and in jail.
The drugs poisonous effects on the brain further stop the chance of communication being possible.
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Not only did the rediagnoses of schizophrenia hold to the narrower definitions, Harding's study in The American Journal of Psychiatry (Vol. 144, No. 6, p. 718-735) showed that 62 percent to 68 percent of those former back ward patients showed no signs at all of schizophrenia. "They just didn't have them anymore."