R.D.Laing: A Personal View Book

R.D. Laing's reputation has suffered serious setbacks since its 1960s' heyday when his (still) important book The Divided Self, his friendships with fellow iconoclasts (David Cooper, Timothy Leary et al) and his anti-Establishment candour made him a household name. Then Laing's critique of the family, madness and the psychiatric establishment seemed more than simply germane--it was revolutionary. Today his thought seems less sophisticated than other intellectuals who have interrogated madness (Michel Foucault, for example) and his existentialism seems dated. Worse than this his interest in re-birthing and his questionable poetry make him somewhat of an embarrassment: Laing is seen as merely a product of his time, his genuine innovations and critiques forgotten. Bob Mullan was a friend and disciple of Laing who, with this and Mad to Be Normal, his volume of interview transcripts with Laing, wants to put the record straight about a thinker whose extremity is alluded to more often than his erudition. Mullan, himself the writer of a number of volumes on therapy, talks of his own life's journey and how Laing's thought reinforced his views about the mistreatment of those who society labels mad. He brings our attention back to the brave humanity that produced Laing's thought and to the continuing relevance of the need to truly listen to those society finds it much easier to drug, deride, incarcerate or ignore. --Mark ThwaiteRead More