Ambiguity tolerance and disordered communication: therapeutic aspects.

Abstract

One application of the concepts and principles of information theory to psychiatry and psychotherapy is shown. It is argued that students of information theory and of psychiatry and psychology can work together to elucidate the phenomenon of ambiguity tolerance and to begin approaching a “theory” of disordered communication arising from low levels of ambiguity tolerance. After a brief review of the key concepts of information theory, the thinking of psychiatrists, psychologists and information theorists with regard to the phenomenon of ambiguity tolerance is integrated. It is shown that by utilizing concepts and approaches gleaned from both fields it is possible to predict an individual's responses to ambiguity. These include shielding oneself from information by withdrawal, by making formal and informal commitments to social institutions, by subscribing to an ideology, and by utilizing linguistic devices (e.g., oversimplification in the form of stereotypes and clichés, literalness and two-valued thinking) as information shields. Further, it is possible to predict the consequences of these responses to ambiguity, including self-containment, inhibition, affective frigidity, redundancy-dependence, avoidance of intimacy and personal rigidity. The origins of low ambiguity tolerance in family settings and under conditions of psychological stress are discussed. Finally, it is shown that by utilizing knowledge and concepts from both fields, it is possible to sketch broad approaches to therapeutic treatment of disordered communication arising from low levels of ambiguity tolerance.