num_pages: 156
description: In ‘The Politics of Experience’ and the visionary ‘Bird of Paradise’, R.D. Laing shows how the straitjacket of conformity imposed on us all leads to intense feelings of alienation and a tragic waste of human potential. He throws into question the notion of normality, examines schizophrenia and psychotherapy, transcendence and ‘us and them’ thinking, and illustrates his ideas with a remarkable case history of a ten-day psychosis. ‘We are bemused and crazed creatures,’ Laing suggests. This outline of ‘a thoroughly self-conscious and self-critical human account of man’ represents a major attempt to understand our deepest dilemmas and sketch in solutions.‘Everyone in contemporary psychiatry owes something to R.D. Laing’ Anthony Clare, the Guardian.
language: English
title: The Politics of Experience/The Bird of Paradise
titlecomplete: The Politics of Experience/The Bird of Paradise
genres: Sociology, Psychology, Science, Theory, Philosophy, Essays, Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry, Politics, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 1929
publisher: Penguin Books