Category Archives: RD Laing

How Societies with Little Coercion Have Little Mental Illness – Bruce Levine

http://brucelevine.net/how-societies-with-little-coercion-have-little-mental-illness/ ‘Coercion—the use of physical, legal, chemical, psychological, financial, and other forces to gain compliance—is intrinsic to our society’s employment, schooling, and parenting. However, coercion results in fear and resentment, which are fuels for miserable marriages, unhappy families, and what … Continue reading

Posted in 'evil', abuse, actualizing tendency, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, Bruce Levine, child development, communication, compulsive behaviour, conditions of worth, conflict, consent, cultural questions, diagnoses of ADHD, Disconnection, diversity, education, emotions, empowerment, equality, Eric Fromm, ethics, external locus, family systems, fear, growing up, human condition, interconnection & belonging, internal locus of evaluation, non-conforming, organismic experiencing, paradigm shift, parenting, perception, power and powerlessness, psychiatric abuse, psychiatric drugs, psychiatry, psychosis, RD Laing, relationship, schizophrenia, self, self concept, teaching, values & principles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Madness and Beauty in the Heart of Darkness – Drake Spaeth

https://www.saybrook.edu/newexistentialists/posts/05-27-15 Click on the link for (sadly) the last of Drake Spaeth’s series of posts for Saybrook, this time with some thoughts arising on the recent death of John Nash, the brilliant mathematician whose life was the subject of Sylvia … Continue reading

Posted in acceptance, actualizing tendency, anti-psychotics, awakening, beauty, cognitive, communication, compassion, compulsive behaviour, conflict, consciousness, core conditions, creativity, cultural questions, Disconnection, Drake Spaeth, emotions, empathy, empowerment, encounter, ethics, external locus, fear, growth, healing, human condition, identity, interconnection & belonging, internal locus of evaluation, Joseph Campbell, Jung, kindness & compassion, meaning, Mick Cooper, non-conforming, organismic experiencing, Palace Gate Counselling Service, perception, power and powerlessness, presence, psychiatric drugs, psychiatry, psychosis, RD Laing, resilience, sadness & pain, schizophrenia, self, shadow, therapeutic growth, violence, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Learning to be with ourselves: a response to Understanding Psychosis – Elizabeth Svanholmer

http://beyondmeds.com/2015/04/20/learning/ Click on the link to visit Monica Cassani’s resource-rich site, http://www.beyondmeds.com, for this great piece by Elizabeth Svanholmer, commenting on the recent report by The British Psychological Society, Division of Clinical Psychology, edited by Anne Cooke and entitled:- ‘Understanding … Continue reading

Posted in anti-psychotics, CBT, childhood abuse, client as 'expert', clients' perspective, cognitive, communication, compulsive behaviour, conditions of worth, core conditions, cultural questions, emotions, empathy, empowerment, equality, ethics, external locus, fear, growth, healing, hearing voices, iatrogenic illness, internal locus of evaluation, kindness & compassion, love, mindfulness, Monica Cassani, non-conforming, non-directive counselling, objectification, organismic experiencing, Palace Gate Counselling Service, paradigm shift, perception, person centred, person centred theory, political, power and powerlessness, psychiatric abuse, psychiatric drugs, psychiatry, psychosis, RD Laing, relationship, research evidence, sadness & pain, schizophrenia, sexual violence, shame, suicide, therapeutic growth, therapeutic relationship, trauma, trust, values & principles, violence, vulnerability, working with clients | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

R.D. Laing on Pain

“There is a great deal of pain in life and perhaps the only pain that can be avoided is the pain that comes from trying to avoid pain.” R.D. Laing Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter

Posted in consciousness, emotions, human condition, RD Laing, sadness & pain, vulnerability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thomas Szasz on ‘Freedom and Psychotherapy’ in conversation with Randall C. Wyatt

http://www.psychotherapy.net/interview/thomas-szasz Click on the link for this fascinating interview with Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry emeritus at SUNY Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York, where he has taught since 1956. Randall describes him as ‘the foremost psychiatric critic of … Continue reading

Posted in anti-depressants, civil rights, client as 'expert', clients' perspective, consciousness, cultural questions, Disconnection, empowerment, equality, ethics, external locus, fear, healing, human condition, internal locus of evaluation, Jung, medical model, metaphor & dream, non-conforming, paradigm shift, perception, person centred, political, power and powerlessness, psychiatric abuse, psychiatric drugs, psychiatry, RD Laing, reality, regulation, therapeutic growth, therapeutic relationship, Thomas Szasz, values & principles, working with clients | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gabor Mate: The Myth of Normal

Click on the link for this short film of the wonderful Gabor Mate talking about culturally prevalent myths of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’, and their unhelpful nature. At this service, we also make sense of human experience in terms of a … Continue reading

Posted in consciousness, cultural questions, Disconnection, Gabor Mate, healing, human condition, interconnection & belonging, Palace Gate Counselling Service, paradigm shift, political, power, psychiatry, RD Laing, spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Clancy Sigal on R.D. Laing

Click on the title for the link to this 2005 article in The Guardian. Clancy Sigal on R.D. Laing Extraordinarily interesting 2005 account from Clancy Sigal of his evolving relationship with R.D. Laing. Might sit uncomfortably with those who prefer … Continue reading

Posted in actualizing tendency, conflict, Disconnection, ethics, human condition, internal locus of evaluation, medical model, psychiatric drugs, psychiatry, RD Laing, therapeutic growth, therapeutic relationship | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Living in One of R. D. Laing’s Post Kingsley Hall Households: Michael Guy Thompson

Living in One of R. D. Laing’s Post Kingsley Hall Households: Michael Guy Thompson Deeply interesting article by Michael Guy Thompson, from his own experiences. Many of us here have an interest in Laing’s work, which has huge resonance with … Continue reading

Posted in actualizing tendency, core conditions, empowerment, ethics, human condition, internal locus of evaluation, love, person centred, psychiatry, RD Laing, therapeutic growth, therapeutic relationship, transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment