Dichotomous and Complex Thinking

Organizing aspects of our realities into dichotomous or bipolar categories is a pervasive, ordinary, and often useful habit of mind. However, when coupled with a search for certainty, this mode of understanding highlights extremes, superimposes a value hierarchy, neglects nuances of meaning, and leaves us with limited possibilities for understanding and action. This article explores bipolarizations that construct absolute differences between the knowledge-generating approaches of scientists and clinicians, clinicians and clients, and clients and scientists. It further argues that using dichotomies as contrasting truths that demarcate a range of intermediate possibilities, rather than a narrow set of either-or options, expands both what we know and what we can do.