ABSTRACT
Disturbed and disordered communication has been known to characterize the families of schizophrenics for some time (Bateson, Jackson, Weakland, & Haley, 1956). The construct of communication deviance (CD) was first articulated by Singer and Wynne (1965a,
1965b; Wynne & Singer, 1963) to describe confused, distorted, and inconsistent communication arising from an inability to negotiate a shared focus of attention in the families of schizophrenic patients. Singer and Wynne (1965a) hypothesized that because children’s development occurs in a transactional family context, exposure to chronically abnormal communication patterns may impede the development of organized and meaningful thought. They believed that when exacerbated by the trials of adolescence and by adult stressors, and when combined with a genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia, parental communication would play a significant etiological role in the development of subsequent schizophrenic spectrum-which they broadly defined to include schizoid, schizotypal, and borderline personality disorders, in addition to various forms of schizophrenia.
