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Research title Enticing Ghosts to Life: Exploring the Historical and Cultural Geographies of R.D. Laing. Summary of research My research is focussed upon the life and work of Scottish born psychiatrist R.D. Laing. Ronald David Laing was born in Glasgow in 1927 and died of a heart attack in 1989, aged only 61. Training in medicine at Glasgow University then moving to the discipline of psychiatry, and finally studying psychoanalysis at the famous Tavistock Clinic in London under the guidance of more recognisable analysts such as Charles Rycroft and Donald Winnicott, Laing became a globally renowned figure for his controversial and inspiring views on the subject of mental illness. Laing decided to step away from conventional psychiatry by condemning the use of electric shock treatment, lobotomies, and insulin treatment and instead focused on more experimental treatments such as music therapy, LSD treatment, and meaning communication. One of Laing’s most controversial views suggested that schizophrenia may be seen as an individual’s attempt to opt out or escape from an intolerable environment or situation and rather than being labelled an ‘illness’ it should be understood, in existential terms, as a journey that could eventually lead to some form of enlightenment. Many critics condemned his vision as attempting to romanticize mental suffering but this did not halt Laing gaining a cult following and becoming one of Britain’s most influential, yet forgotten, figures in psychiatry and psychoanalysis.
Laing claimed in 1967 that,
‘I am a specialist, God help me, in events in inner space and time, in experiences called thoughts, images, reveries, dreams, visions, hallucinations, dreams of memories, memories of dreams. We live equally out of our bodies and out of our minds’ (The Politics of Experience).
It was this desire to investigate the intricate connections between mind and body interactions that drove Laing towards attempting to understand his patients within the contexts of their own local, social, and familial worlds. My research is an attempt to uncover, not only the ways in which Laing was able to do this, but also the inspirations in his own life which compelled him to thinking about his patients in what appeared to be a significantly different way from the mainstream of psychiatry and psychoanalysis at the time. Part of my research is designed to chart Laing’s geographies through detailed archival research into his biography, published works, diaries, and projects. By delving into these sources it becomes possible to uncover specific ‘episodes’, ‘sites’, and ‘places’ that have significantly influenced how Laing envisioned the world around him and his perception on how he could, and should, treat the patients he encountered through his own life journey.
Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant
Office Hours: Mon 12-1
Supervisors Professor Chris Philo
Professor Joanne Sharp
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