The Psychology Book

150

MADNESS NEED NOT

BE ALL BREAKDOWN

IT MAY ALSO BE

BREAK-THROUGH

R.D. LAING (1927–1989)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Anti-psychiatry

BEFORE

1908 Swiss psychiatrist

Eugen Bleuler coins the term

“schizophrenia” to refer to the

splitting of mental functions.

1911 Sigmund Freud proposes

that schizophrenia is purely

psychological, though it

cannot be treated with

psychoanalysis.

1943 French philosopher

Jean-Paul Sartre introduces

the distinction between the

true self and the false self.

1956 Gregory Bateson, British

social scientist, defines a

“double bind” as an emotionally

distressing dilemma in which

all the potential resolutions

lead to negative consequences.

AFTER

1978 CT brain scans reveal

physical differences between

chronic schizophrenics and

non-schizophrenics.

A

t the end of the 19th

century, the notion that

mental illness was

different in degree—rather than

in kind—from the psychological

suffering of normal people began

to gain acceptance. Sigmund Freud

suggested that neurosis and

normality are part of the same

scale, and that anyone is capable of

succumbing to mental disturbance

in dire circumstances. It was from

this context that R.D. Laing emerged

as the preeminent icon of a new

cultural trend.

Biology and behavior

Like Freud, Laing challenged the

fundamental values of psychiatry,

rejecting its focus on mental illness

as a biological phenomenon and

highlighting the significance of the

Mental illness is not

biological; it is developed

through difficult

social interactions.

Mental illness should be

valued as a cathartic and

transformative experience.

Psychosis is a valid

and understandable

expression of distress.

Psychiatry wrongly

stigmatizes mental illness

because it does not

conform to social norms.

Madness need not be all

breakdown. It may also be

break-through.