The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness

Front Cover
Penguin UK, Jan 28, 2010 - Psychology - 240 pages

The Divided Self, R.D. Laing's groundbreaking exploration of the nature of madness, illuminated the nature of mental illness and made the mysteries of the mind comprehensible to a wide audience.

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.

Laing's radical approach to insanity offered a rich existential analysis of personal alienation and made him a cult figure in the 1960s, yet his work was most significant for its humane attitude, which put the patient back at the centre of treatment.

Includes an introduction by Professor Anthony S. David.

'One of the twentieth century's most influential psychotherapists'
Guardian

'Laing challenged the psychiatric orthodoxy of his time ... an icon of the 1960s counter-culture'
The Times

 

Selected pages

Contents

Preface to the Original Edition
The existentialphenomenological foundations for a science
The existentialphenomenological foundations for the understanding
Ontological insecurity
The embodied and unembodied self
The inner self in the schizoid condition
The falseself system
Selfconsciousness
The case of Peter
Psychotic developments
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness
Ronald David Laing
Limited preview - 1999
The Divided Self
Ronald David Laing
Snippet view - 1969
The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness
R. D. Laing
Snippet view - 1965
View all »

Common terms and phrases

able actions actual alien antipsychiatry anxiety appear aspects attempt autonomy awareness basic became become behaviour body catatonic child clinical compliance compulsive danger dead defence depersonalization doctor dread embodied empty engulfed everything existence existential existential phenomenology experience experienced expression fact false false-self system father fear feel felt frightened girl guilt hated hatred ideas of reference identity imagination impersonation individual's inner instance intentions isolation Julie Julie’s killed Laing living look losing masturbating means mirror mother never normal object one’s oneself ontological insecurity parents partial system patient perception person petrification phantasy phantom phenomenological playing position possible present psychiatrist psychopathology psychosis psychotherapy psychotic R. D. Laing reality regarded relatedness relationship sane sanity schizoid individual schizophrenic seemed seen self-conscious sense shared world simply sister someone split Tavistock Clinic things thought threatened true trying turned understand unembodied unreal wanted whole William Blake

About the author (2010)

R.D. Laing, one of the best-known psychiatrists of modern times, was born in Glasgow in 1927. R.D. Laing's writings range from books on social theory to verse, as well as numerous articles and reviews in scientific journals and the popular press. His many publications include The Divided Self, Self and Others, Interpersonal Perception, The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise, Madness and Folly. R.D. Laing died in 1989.

Anthony David graduated in medicine from Glasgow University in 1980. After training in neurology he switched to psychiatry at the Maudsley & Bethlem Hospitals. He is currently Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London. He has edited several books including The Self in Neuroscience and Psychiatry (2003) with T. Kircher, and Insight and Psychosis (2nd ed., 2004) with X. Amador, and is author of over 350 publications in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness
Penguin Modern Classics
AuthorR. D. Laing
PublisherPenguin UK, 2010
ISBN0141962089, 9780141962085
Length240 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Medical / Psychiatry / General
Philosophy / Movements / Existentialism
Psychology / Psychopathology / General
  
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