Author

Publication

1969 - Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, England

Language

English

Word Count

54,500 words, Guess

Page Count

218 pages

Identifiers

Description

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.

First Sentence

The term schizoid refers to an individual the totality of whose experience is split in two main ways: in the first place, there is a rent in his relation with his world and, in the second, there is a disruption of his relation with himself.

Subjects

Genres

  • Case studies

Other Editions

  • The divided self: an existential study in sanity and madnessPenguin Books1969-01-01
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