[Twenty years double bind: attempt at a critical review (author's transl)]

This publication represents a critical review of the literature published so far on the concept of Double Bind (db). The article attempts to describe the development of this concept since its inception by Bateson et al. twenty years ago. The article also illuminates the partly distinctly neglected reference aspect of db, as well as the recent suggestions of a radical reformulation of concept according to which db is no longer a necessarily pathogenous deformation of communication. Since it can be shown that db is a so to say ubiquitous communicative phenomenon, the question as to whether it is specific for schizophrenia, can be definitely negated. An analysis of the quantitative empirical studies published so far, the analysis being viewed under the aspect of a critical review of the methods employed, shows that the development of a methodically and conceptually adequate experimental model which can completely cover db, has not yet proved successful. It becomes evident that the term "db hypothesis" is misleading insofar as this should be considered as a rather comprehensive theoretical construction not easily liable to direct experimental testing, which can be considered as possessing the character of a new paradigm.