Experimental psychiatrist Ronald Laing seems to have done everything to make his name taboo in serious scientific circles. Nevertheless, he entered the history of science as one of the most prominent psychiatrists.
He was one of the founders of the «anti-psychiatry» movement, proclaiming that there are no mental illnesses, but only life experiences unique to each individual. He founded a commune in which the mentally ill lived on an equal footing with doctors, and LSD and other drugs were widely used for medical purposes. He studied meditation with Indian gurus and was seriously going to publish the Shamanism magazine … Nevertheless, Laing went down in the history of science as one of the most prominent psychiatrists — or rather even philosophers from psychiatry of the twentieth century. The book by Doctor of Philosophy and clinical psychologist Olga Vlasova is Laing’s first biography in Russian. The biography is detailed, equally deeply exploring the turbulent life of a doctor and scientist, and his intense ideological search. That is why the book will certainly be read with interest by those who hear about Laing for the first time, and those who have long been fascinated by the charm of the “revolutionary psychiatrist” and his ideas.
Gaidar Institute Publishing House, 464 p.