Sanity, Madness and the Family: Families of Schizophrenics

A truly compelling & accesible read to illuminate the origins of what was called "schizophrenia" in the 20th century! For readers who have experienced psychiatric abuse, it will have you spellbound; is the patient sick, or is the whole family mad? Laing & Esterson offer a narrative voice to connect transcribed conversations between family members of an allegedly ill patient - one family per chapter, each chapter hard to put... Read Full Review

My father was Asperger like myself. My mother was schizogenic. Not schizophrenic but schizogenic: A refrigerator mother totally impervious to the needs of her children. Never once in her life did she kiss or hug any of us, and we were raised by the maids. To be fair with her, she did take an interest in us when we were sick. I remember that being sick was like visiting Disneyland. My brother is schizophrenic and he has spent... Read Full Review

My father was autistic. My mother was schizogenic. Not schizophrenic but schizogenic: A refrigerator mother totally impervious to the needs of her children. Never once in her life did she kiss or hug any of us, and we were raised by the maids. To be fair with her, she did take an interest in us when we were sick. I remember that being sick was like visiting Disneyland. My brother is schizophrenic and he has spent several... Read Full Review

A bright star in the constellation bridging the literary and philosophic psychiatry of the past to the psycho-pharmacological dominated present.

Famed psychiatrist R. D. Laing gives a study of eleven families and thier children whom are schizophrenic. Laing gives no interjections, but rather lets the conversations that the families have amongst themselves give their own testimony. Laing lets the reader know where language patterns occur, in which he believes is largely due to the psychic split. The "double bind" theory introduced by Gregory Bateson, in which the... Read Full Review