RDLaing Individualism Vs. Chemical Straight Jacket.wmv

Ohio State University Conference in 1984 about George Orwells Book 1984
R. D. Laing spoke here. Filmed and produced by moi.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• individualism
• tranquilizers
• chemical straight jacket
• r. d. laing
• laing
• lobotomy

[dael4]

Thanks Duchess that is great to hear, he always sounded like a person with a heart (sounds oversymplistic but seems like few do these days)

[whiff1962]

@JFJFM67 I will make an off the cuff, and unsolicited comment. If psychiatry and its professionals are to assert that psychiatry is a branch of medicine, with a real concern for the treating (curing?) of "sick minds" (as per the reductive approach to human (mis) conduct), then the profession must honestly confront and answer the question: why involuntary commitment and treatment? It matters not whether the latter is the "exception" or not! It happens and the state sanctions it.

[whiff1962]

@JFJFM67 No, it does not disqualify me, as I have plenty of knowledge of Laing's bag of tricks. If by early successes, you mean the use of state monies for his idea of an "alternative" to the mental institutions of his time, then you are not taking note of the importance of political ideology and psychiatry in this argument. Psychiatry is a moral-legalistic enterprise, and as such, it cannot and will not ever be separate from state sanction as an institution of social (mental) hygiene.

[JFJFM67]

@whiff1962

Your failure to read the text disqualifies you from any meaningful comment on The Divided Self. Fair play to you for at least admitting you don't know what you're talking about. Laing might, arguably, ultimately have failed as a "family man". As a compassionate human being and psychiatrist he had many, very important, early successes. He may have lost his way a bit towards the end but, until you do your homework, you're not fit to give worthwhile comment.

[1982daydreambeliever]

did he just call me a rat???

[julesthemadman]

I am interested by these comments by Laing - he was quite right to assert that ect - for which no scientific basis has ever been concretely found - is making a comeback, and even mental health professionals who fought against its use are now resigning themselves to it. Surely it is better to encourage people to accept themselves via a truly radical person-centred approach as Laing practised?

[rockthekasbah7]

@whiff1962 That sounds like quite a scandal, thanks for the information, the background to which RD Laing wrote is almost completely alien to me, the only psychology book I've completed until now was by Carl jung which I thought brilliant and found him to be a positive character in his interviews. So I am eager to increase by basic knowledge. Glad to hear the T. Szasz book is short so as not to be a daunting task to approach reading it!

[whiff1962]

I haven't sought to impose anything onto you. I am simply stating my opinion on those aspectis of his (Laing's) personal and professional life that I find problemmatic. Laing said one thing, and did much the opposite any many cases, as in his chemically assaulting and kidnapped Clancy Sigal, which is well documented, but took years to come to print in England because of Laing's legal actions. I would suggest T. Szasz's "Anti-psychiatry: quackery squared" as a short and needful read.

[rockthekasbah7]

@whiff1962 Apologies for the vagueness, I was looking for an example of your assertions about Laing rather than having to read a whole book