Gregory Bateson, Paul Watzlawick, Jules Henry, Don Jackson, Jay Haley, Virginia Satir, Theodore Lidz, Stephen Fleck, R. D. Laing, Aaron Esterson and others were somewhat onto this in the '50s and '60s. (You can Google them all to see for yourself.) In only slightly varying ways, they all asserted from direct experience with hundreds (aggregately thousands) of supposed “schizophrenics” that “concentrated” versions of common cultural insanity were “introjected” (lookitup) from “crazy-making” families that were just marginally sane themselves. They all schiz as a combination of ego fracturing and extreme ego-defense systems designed to protect the schizophrenic from being “double bound” with “crazy ideas” resulting in “intolerable terror.”
But when I (anyway) read the case histories (and I have read – and charted – hundreds), what I see is common, almost universally socialized, unconsciously customary, subtly normalized, mid-20th century beliefs in whatever the authorities were dishing out.
Examples given: “One should be thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving in all possible respects if one is to consider oneself worthwhile.” “It is awful and catastrophic when things are not the way one would very much like them to be.” “If something is or may be dangerous or fearsome one should be terribly concerned about it and should keep dwelling on the possibility of its occurring.” “It is easier to avoid than to face certain life difficulties and self-responsibilities.” “One should be dependent on others and have someone stronger than oneself on whom to rely.” “One should become quite upset over other people’s problems and disturbances.” “There is invariably a right, precise, and perfect solution to human problems and that it is catastrophic if this perfect solution is not found.”
There are thousands more, of course. We teach our children by example to believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, ghosts and goblins, the complete accuracy of what is written (or seen on TV), the perfect functionality and/or largess of public agencies, and that “our” group (or race, or culture) is “better” than “theirs.”
A lot of people get past the obvious baloney, and we call them “normal” or “functional.” But almost no one I have ever known has gotten past all of it. Most of us, it seems, will go to our graves believing in all manner of things that just aren’t true, if for no other reason than that we sense the truth – when it actually is the truth – and then hang onto it for dear life long after it is obviously no longer the case.
Charles Tart and Arthur Deikman called it the “consensus trance.” The Buddhist masters call it “being asleep.” The existentialists just call it belief. I call it the “inter-generational, ever-increasing concentration of accepted b******t” until it’s concentrated enough to tip someone over.