Self and Others

Self and Others is a psychological study by R. D. Laing, first published in 1961. It was re-issued in a second edition (1969), which (in Laing's words) was “extensively revised, without being changed in any fundamental way”.[1]

The book formed part of a series of writings by Laing in the Sixties on the relationship of madness to the self within a social context or nexus,[2] writings which created something of a cult of Laing at the time.[3]

Structure

Self and Others is divided into two parts, called respectively 'Modes of Interpersonal Experience' and 'Forms of Interpersonal Action'. In the first part, Laing sets out from a critique of the Kleinian view of unconscious phantasy, as set out by Susan Sutherland Isaacs, for its lack of recognition of the interpersonal dialectics inherent in human experience.[4] He also uses Kleinian thought to emphasize the omnipresence of social phantasy systems.[5]

In the second part, Laing explored the extent to which an individual is or is not invested in their own actions, using ideas drawn from Martin Buber and Jean-Paul Sartre.[6] He also extended the American concept of the double bind to cover the experience of the schizoid patient.[7]

In both sections, Laing uses material from Dostoyevsky to illustrate his theoretical points.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Preface to the Second Edition, R. D. Laing, Self and Others (1969) p. 7
  2. ↑ R. Gregory ed, The Oxford Companion to the Mind (1987) p. 417-8
  3. ↑ I. Ousby ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (1995) p. 527
  4. ↑ Daniel Burston, The Wing of Madness (1998) p. 111 and p. 178
  5. ↑ Daniel Burston, The Wing of Madness (1998) p. 98
  6. ↑ A. Beveridge, Portrait of the Psychiatrist as a Young Man (2011) p. 122
  7. ↑ Patrick Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (1997) p. 178
  8. ↑ R. D. Laing, Self and Others (1969) p. 61, p. 132 and p. 165

Further reading

M. Howarth-Williams, R. D. Laing (1977)

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