Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Laing And Psychiatric Schizophrenic Healing Autobiography Wisdom And Theories

By Donald Lewis


When it comes to writers familiar with psychiatry and theory, the late Ronald David Laing was one of the best. For, Laing had a lot of experience in the area even after having to repeat a series of college exams. In a partial psychiatric schizophrenic healing autobiography wisdom, madness and folly, Laing suggests that the failure was due to remarks made at a university function rather than actual test scores on a number of tests.

Laing was a Scottish psychiatrist whom wrote entirely on the topic of psychosis and schizophrenia. In fact, the psychiatrists has received a number of film and book credits whether related to personal work or, the work of others. Most often, the body of work attributed to Laing is based on the unorthodox treatments and community built for clients with which the psychiatrist worked over the course of a lifetime.

With views which often ran clockwise to orthodoxy in treatment such as medications and electroshock therapy, there was often a great deal of controversy with regards to Laing's work. Regardless, as the psychiatrist saw the feelings of clients as reality rather than symptoms, Laing often saw positive results. Whereas, when it came to schizophrenia and psychosis, Laing saw both as theories rather than mental illnesses.

While labeled as anti-psychiatry by others in the field and a large portion of society, Laing rejected such label and moved forward with a thriving practice. For, the psychiatrist had become accustom to labels as others had been labeling the psychiatrist a New Left thinker for years.

In fact, the film Mad to Be Normal released in 2017 portrays the unorthodox work of Laing's practice in the late 1960s. The film reveals the approach the psychiatrist took as well as the community of clients with which Laing worked. While this is the case, this is just one of many of the films and books in which the psychiatrist has played a major role.

Even as a child, Laing was thought to be clever, competitive and precocious whether related to reading, writing, sports or music, Laing often took the road less traveled. A road which eventually led to the Royal College of Music, then later, the University of Glasgow. It was at the latter where the young Laing failed the exams, then spent six months working in a mental ward before retaking and passing the exams.

During the course of studies towards a medical degree, Laing set up a Socratic Club with Bertand Russell as president. After which, Laing failed the first set of final exams. Then, after working in a psychiatric unit for six months, the psychiatrist retook the exams and passed, thus qualifying as a medical health care provider. After which, the psychiatrist became more involved in different areas of the field of psychiatry always pushing for more non-conventional methods of treatment.

Ultimately, while Laing continued to pursue this direction in the field of psychiatry, colleagues continued to reject the ideology presented by the psychiatrist. For, most disagreed with the overwhelming opposition Laing held toward electroshock, insulin shock therapy and medication. Still, Laing moved on providing unorthodox treatment to those whom shared in the same ideology, philosophy and theoretical beliefs and continued to reject the so-called norm when it came to ongoing and more conventional treatments.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...