Wisdom, Madness and Folly: The Making of a Psychiatrist

I read this about 10 years ago & have recently read it again. Laing's writing is easy & colloquial, more like conversation than some exercise with a thesaurus. Laing reviews the state of psychiatry today (1985) & reviews the events in his life that helped shape his iconoclastic views of medicine & society. He eschews the term "anti-psychiatry," seemingly preferring not to name or "institutionalize" his process & praxis for psychiatry. By the end of this book, Laing & his views seem incredibly human & humane, & one wonders, Why aren't all psychiatrists like Laing? Early on, Laing cites the changing psychiatric view in Italy; the new edition of WM & F coincides with the 20th anniversary of Italy's law 180, which pretty much altered the way psychiatric services are dispensed & which was promoted by both doctors & patients, proving that the camaraderie among patient & staff that Laing longed for was possible.

I first read this more than 10 years ago & found it a pleasant diversion from his more polemical writing. Laing is witty & honest: he cites but doesn't dwell on the cliches & sloganry that have fairly engulfed descriptions of his profession. Laing is incisive & wastes little time with exposition: he's on to another topic before you realize he's just alluded to rabid anti-Semitism in Great Britain during WWII! His descriptions of patients are heart-rending, especially the elderly women with whom he worked after his stint in the Army. Laing was & still is maligned by the psychiatric professional community in the U.S., but in Italy this year, it's the 20th anniversary of the "Basaglia Act," which was promoted by doctors & virtually altered the way "mental disorder" is viewed & treated. Laing made no small contribution here, & his easy style & good humor are evident in WM & F & just two reasons why he remains influential.