R. D. Laing

An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness

The Divided Self

R. Laing

First published in 1960, this watershed work aimed to make madness comprehensible, and in doing so revolutionized the way we perceive mental illness. Using case studies of patients he had worked with, psychiatrist R. D. Laing argued that psychosis is not a medical condition but an outcome of the �divided self�, or the tension between the two personas within us: one our authentic, private identity, and the other the false, �sane� self that we present to the world.

While most psychiatrist were busy trying to fix things, R.D. Laing was one of the few who sought to understand the human within, even though he labeled an anti-psychiatrist, controversial and couldn't save himself.

Back in 60s, psychiatry treated patients like machine, electric shocks, LSD, you name it, and often these methods worsened their condition. Laing was there as if asked radical question: "What if madness actually makes sense?"

With a deep interest in philosophy, Laing examined schizophrenic patients through an existential lens (Sartre and Heidegger) and argue that for some, the world is so terrifying and end up make them split into false self and true self to escape the fear oof being "engulf" by other people. Laing said that schizoid individual lacks ontological security and experiencing the world as a series of existential threats such as engulfment, implosion, and depersonalisation-pertification. To protect their fragile inner self, they build a false self system to interact with the world.

What I love about this book is how Laing uses philosophy to explain human condition, he doesn't provide a list of symptoms, but rather empathy. His work centres on ontological insecurity and even though it's a heavy material, it was written so clearly.

This book isn't perfect, of course, there are several weaknesses in it. Laing puts a lot of blame on family dynamics and society as the primary trigger for ontological insecurity and in doing so, he oversimplifies the complex interplay between brain chemistry and social environment.

A gut punch book, DS serves as a reminder that the line of normalcy is thin and even if you ain't struggling with a mental health crisis, Laing's insight is briliant and deeply empathetic/

While most psychiatrist were busy trying to fix things, R.D. Laing was one of the few who sought to understand the human within, even though he labeled an anti-psychiatrist, controversial and couldn't save himself.

Back in 60s, psychiatry treated patients like machine, electric shocks, LSD, you name it, and often these methods worsened their condition. Laing was there as if asked radical question: "What if madness actually makes sense?"

With a deep interest in philosophy, Laing examined schizophrenic patients through an existential lens (Sartre and Heidegger) and argue that for some, the world is so terrifying and end up make them split into false self and true self to escape the fear oof being "engulf" by other people. Laing said that schizoid individual lacks ontological security and experiencing the world as a series of existential threats such as engulfment, implosion, and depersonalisation-pertification. To protect their fragile inner self, they build a false self system to interact with the world.

What I love about this book is how Laing uses philosophy to explain human condition, he doesn't provide a list of symptoms, but rather empathy. His work centres on ontological insecurity and even though it's a heavy material, it was written so clearly.

This book isn't perfect, of course, there are several weaknesses in it. Laing puts a lot of blame on family dynamics and society as the primary trigger for ontological insecurity and in doing so, he oversimplifies the complex interplay between brain chemistry and social environment.

A gut punch book, DS serves as a reminder that the line of normalcy is thin and even if you ain't struggling with a mental health crisis, Laing's insight is briliant and deeply empathetic/

an existential study in sanity and madness

The divided self

WOW this is hands down the best book on psychosis i've ever read - finished in one night and i cannot believe it has taken me this long to get around to reading laing. brilliant and breathtaking and human and incredible... read me to absolute filth. so excited to get into this oeuvre

eris

Gavin

Dreadful bloody pseudoscience in the abscessed vein of Freud. Blames schizophrenia on strict parenting and then celebrates its completely disabling horror. 

See here for an illustrative anecdote about what this attitude did to patients in the 60s; see here and here for the actual long-term effect of parenting.

(view spoiler)[(it's not large). (hide spoiler)]

One good thing though: his idea of "ontological insecurity" as a distinctive debilitating state. I've met someone with a real case of this (a philosophical case) and it was as bad as you'd expect. But I doubt Laing ever did.

The Divided Self An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness

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