The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise

Shows how the straitjacket of conformity imposed on us leads to feelings of alienation and a waste of human potential. This title examines schizophrenia and psychotherapy, transcendence and 'us and them' thinking, and illustrates ideas with a case history of a ten-day psychosis. 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.