The crucible of experience : R. D. Laing and the crisis of psychotherapy
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The crucible of experience : R. D. Laing and the crisis of psychotherapy
Harvard Univ. Press, 2000
- : alk. paper
Available at 11 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes in bibliographical references (p. [157]-164) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
One of the great rebels of psychiatry, R. D. Laing challenged prevailing models of madness and the nature and limits of psychiatric authority. In this brief and lucid book, Laing's widely praised biographer distills the essence of Laing's vision, which was religious and philosophical as well as psychological.
The Crucible of Experience reveals Laing's philosophical debts to existentialism and phenomenology in his theories of madness and sanity, family theory and family therapy. Daniel Burston offers the first detailed account of Laing's practice as a therapist and of his relationships-often contentious-with his friends and sometime disciples. Burston carefully differentiates between Laing and "Laingians," who were often clearer, more confident, and more simplistic than their teacher.
While he examines Laing's theories of madness, Burston focuses most provocatively on Laing's views of sanity and normality and on his recognition, toward the end of his life, of the essential place of holiness in human experience. In a powerful last chapter, Burston shows that Laing foresaw the present commercialization of medicine and asked pointed questions about what the meaning of sanity and the future of psychotherapy in such a world could be. In this, as in other matters, Laing's questions of a generation ago remain questions for our time.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 1. An Enigmatic Man 2. R. D. Laing and Existential Phenomenology 3. R. D. Laing and Existential Psychotherapy 4. Families, Phenomenology, and Schizophrenia 5. Normality and the Numinous 6. R. D. Laing and the Crisis of Psychotherapy Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index
by "Nielsen BookData"