Monday, August 29, 2011

Unthinkable? R.D. Laing in Guardian editorial

Not sure what prompted an editorial in the Guardian about R.D. Laing in its Unthinkable? series. The editorial makes reference to a production of Knots at the King's Head Theatre. It suggests it is time for a reassessment of Laing in "an era of big pharma and proliferating diagnoses". Samantha Bark in her response says she was thrilled to see the editorial and makes reference to her PhD thesis on Laing, which I have added as a link on my articles critical of psychiatry webpage.

Critical psychiatry has never hidden its origins in the work of R.D. Laing (see my book chapter Historical perspectives on anti-psychiatry). There were excesses in 'anti-psychiatry'. Critical psychiatry aims to avoid the marginalisation experienced by R.D. Laing and others like him designated as 'anti-psychiatrists'.

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