About
Ronald David Laing, born in Glasgow in 1927, was a Scottish psychiatrist known for his radical critiques of traditional psychiatry. Graduating in medicine in 1951, he trained as a psychoanalyst at the Tavistock Clinic in London. His first book, 'The Divided Self' (1960), challenged the concept of mental illness, proposing an existential understanding of madness. Co-founder of the Philadelphia Association in 1965, he created alternative therapeutic communities. A central figure in the anti-psychiatry movement, he influenced psychiatric and cultural thought. He died in 1989 in Saint-Tropez.
* 1927-10-07 — † 1989-08-23
Major works
- The Divided Self (1960)essay
- Self and Others (1961)essay
- Sanity, Madness and the Family (1964)essay
- The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise (1967)essay
- Knots (1970)poetry
Key milestones
- 1951Graduated with a medical degree (MBChB) from the University of Glasgow.
- 1965Co-founded the Philadelphia Association, which established therapeutic communities including Kingsley Hall.
- 1967Published 'The Politics of Experience', a major work of the anti-psychiatry movement.
Themes
anti-psychiatryschizophreniaexistentialismalternative therapysocial critique
Sources: britannica.com · oxfordreference.com · id.loc.gov