Introduction to the University of Rochester Child and Family Study

The study of the role of the family in the etiology of psychopathology has an interesting history. There are four threads leading to the present research program. The first might be said to begin with the concept of the schizophrenogenic mother described by Frieda Fromm-Reichman in her discussion of the problems of psychoanalytic psychotherapy of schizophrenic patients (1948). The schizophrenogenic mother is so preoccupied with her own needs that she does not pay attention to and is not genuinely involved in the needs of her child. This quality of affectation runs through many of the hypotheses about the families of schizophrenic patients. The notion was developed in one direction by Laing (1960) in his concept of mystification. Bateson (see Bateson, Jackson, Haley, & Weakland 1956) hypothesized that the schizophrenogenic mother put the child in frequent binds. The double bind is a message which apparently directs the child to perform one act while covertly prohibiting and contradicting the overt message. At the same time the double bind does not permit the child to withdraw from the situation. Thus it puts the child in an unresolvable dilemma. In several clinical studies of families with a schizophrenic child, the special role of the mother was replaced by the entire family as a social system. Thus Lidz (see Lidz & Fleck 1965) described the parental coalition as an important part of an adequate environment for the child. This coalition may fail because the parents are openly hostile to each other (schism)