R.D.Laing: His Personal View

by Bob Mullan, Robert Mullan

This biography pieces together elements of Laing's life, re-evaluating this remarkable man's thought. In particular it addresses his ambivalence towards Freud

his unreconstructed Marxism

his love of Buddha - but his reconstructed Buddhism

his adoration of Nietzsche and Sartre - the only two 'contemporaries' he believed superior to himself

and the ideas he developed through his own experience of working with himself and his patients. His behaviour could range from peacefulness and enlightenment to violence. But he could always be trusted to be none but himself - tender, compassionate, cruel, vindictive, sober or drunk, muddle-headed and/or profoundly perceptive and original, tearful and morose, joyous and contented.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 24, 1999

About the author

Filmmaker and author, also known as Robert Mullan

Reviews

[James Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastically accessible insight into maverick psychiatrist Ronnie Laing's musings and beliefs, and an attempt by the author to redress the balance of the reputation-tarnishing criticism that was heaped on Laing throughout his career and, inevitably, posthumously. Mullan's account of his own experiences are a beautiful complement.

Mullan crusades for Laing just as Laing championed communion with the mentally wounded as the most realistic and humane cure for their condition. Stunning subject matter written with passion and compassion, two of Laing's main watchwords.