Sanity, Madness and the Family

292 Pages·1964·24.606 MB·English

by  R. D. Laing , Aaron Estherton

a Pelican Book
Madness
Sanity,
and the Family
R.D.Laing and A.Esterson
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
2009
in
littp://www.arcliive.org/details/sanitymadnessfamOOIain

PELICAN BOOKS
SANITY, MADNESS, AND THE FAMILY
DRR.D.LAiNGwasbominGlasgowand graduated fromthe
university there. He has worked as an army psychiatrist and
with various hospitals and clinics, including the Tavistock
InstituteofHumanRelations,wherehedidresearchintofamilies
from 1961 to 1967. He is chairman of the Philadelphia As-
sociation,a charityconcerned with developing practical social
intervention from theories expounded in his book The Politics
ofExperience, (publishedin Penguinswith TheBirdofParadise),
His research is particularly concerned with schizophrenia,
families,and varieties ofexperienceincludingmind-expanding
drugs.
Hisotherbooks are TheDividedSelf SelfandOthers and Reason
,
and Violence (with David Cooper), and Interpersonal Perception
(withH.PhiilipsonandA.R.Lee).
AARONEsterSONwasborninGlasgowand,afterdemobiliza-
tionfromthewartimeRoyalNavy,enteredGlasgowuniversity
and graduated as a doctor ofmedicine in 1931. He worked in
generalpracticeuntiltakinguppsychiatryin 1954,andbetween
thenand 1962heldanumberofappointmentsinBritishmental
hospitals and psychiatric units. He is a former Research
Associate ofthe Tavistock Institute ofHuman Relations, and
hasspentsometwoyearsasa kibbutzdoctorinIsrael.Finding
itimpossibletopracticeintheNationalHealthservicethekind
oftherapyhebelievedhispatientsrequired,heentered private
practice in 1962, as an existential psychoanalyst and family
A
therapist. His new book. The Leaves ofSpring: Study in the
DialecticofMadness,tobepublishedthisyear,embodiesmoreof
hiswork.

SANITY,
MADNESS, AND
THE FAMILY
Families ofSchit^ophrenics
R. D. LAING
AND
A. ESTERSON
PENGUIN BOOKS
Penguin BooksLtd, Harmondsworth,Middlesex,England
Penguin BooksInc,71loAmbassadorRoad, Baltimore, Maryland112.07,U.S.A.
PenguinBooksAustraliaLtd,Ringwood,Victoria, Australia
FirstpublishedinU.S.A. byBasic Books 1964
Firstpublished inGreatBritainbyTavistock Publications 1964
Published inPelican Books 1970
© Reprinted 1970, 1971
Copyright TheTavistockInstituteofHumanRelations, 1964
Printed in theUnitedStatesofAmericaby
KingsportPress,Inc, Kingsport,Tennessee
SetinMonotypeGaramond
1
Contents
Preface o
PrefacetoSecondEdition 1
Introduction 15
FAMILIES
1. TheAbbotts 31
2. TheBlairs 51
The Churches
3. 75
4. TheDanzigs 109
TheEdens
5. 131
6. TheFields 144
7. TheGolds 159
8. TheHeads 176
Thelrwins 202
9.
10. TheKings 221
11. TheLawsons 232
Appendix 267
Index 279