The Divided Self
An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness
Recommended by Simon Critchley, and 1 others. See all reviewsRanked #23 in Psychiatry, Ranked #35 in Schizophrenia — see more rankings.
Dr. Laing's first purpose is to make madness and the process of going mad comprehensible. In this, with case studies of schizophrenic patients, he succeeds brilliantly, but he does more: through a vision of sanity and madness as 'degrees of conjunction and disjunction between two persons where the one is sane by common consent' he offers a rich existential analysis of personal alienation.
The outsider, estranged from himself and society, cannot experience either himself or others as 'real'. He invents a false self and with it he confronts both the outside world and his own despair.... more
The outsider, estranged from himself and society, cannot experience either himself or others as 'real'. He invents a false self and with it he confronts both the outside world and his own despair.... more
Reviews and Recommendations
We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Divided Self from the world's leading experts.
Simon Critchley The question that he’s asking in the book is about how we categorise the mad and the sane. (Source)
Rankings by Category
The Divided Self is ranked in the following categories:
- #73 in Existential
- #96 in Existentialism
- #61 in Psychoanalysis
- #57 in Psychotherapy
- #59 in SAP
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