In 'The Politics of Experience' and the visionary 'Bird of Paradise', R.D. Laing shows how the straitjacket of conformity imposed on us all leads to intense feelings of alienation and a tragic waste of human potential. He throws into question the notion of normality, examines schizophrenia and psychotherapy, transcendence and 'us and them' thinking, and illustrates his ideas with a remarkable case history of a ten-day psychosis. 'We are bemused and crazed creatures, ' Laing suggests. This outline of 'a thoroughly self-conscious and self-critical human account of man' represents a major...
In 'The Politics of Experience' and the visionary 'Bird of Paradise', R.D. Laing shows how the straitjacket of conformity imposed on us all leads to i...
Dr Laing's first purpose is to make madness & the process of going mad comprehensible. In this he succeeds, but he does more: through a vision of sanity & madness as 'degrees of conjunction & disjunction between two persons where the one is sane by common consent' he offers a rich existential analysis of personal alienation.
Dr Laing's first purpose is to make madness & the process of going mad comprehensible. In this he succeeds, but he does more: through a vision of sani...
