Thank you for the warm welcome. I was just wandering by, reading X's posts, and was attracted to a thread that seemed both intelligent and respectful.
Having never read any Laing, other than soundbites, I went to a big fat History of Psychology book on my shelves and, although Szasz was included in the section of antipsychiatry figures (I just love that name- I have a friend named Chaz... if Thomas Szasz had been Charles he could have been Chaz Szasz, but I digress- badly)there was no Laing at all!! He seems to have been truly excommunicated by the powers that be.
Which means he probably threatened them- academic homicide seems often to be motivated by money and power, just as the real thing is.
Regarding his death, I suppose it could be argued that depression and alcoholism are not "mental" illnesses, but biologically based and thus often impervious to analysis. In fact, the more we learn, it looks as if a lot of what we termed "mental" is biological.
Since I"m unfamiliar though with Laing, I don't know what his definition of mental illness is.
ANd we're back to normal being only a subjective decision implemented by those in power. |
