a Pelican Book Madness Sanity, and the Family R.D.Laing and A.Esterson Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 2009 in littp://www.arcliive.org/details/sanitymadnessfamOOIain PELICAN BOOKS SANITY, MADNESS, AND THE FAMILY DRR.D.LAiNGwasbominGlasgowand graduated fromthe university there. He has worked as an army psychiatrist and with various hospitals and clinics, including the Tavistock InstituteofHumanRelations,wherehedidresearchintofamilies from 1961 to 1967. He is chairman of the Philadelphia As- sociation,a charityconcerned with developing practical social intervention from theories expounded in his book The Politics ofExperience, (publishedin Penguinswith TheBirdofParadise), His research is particularly concerned with schizophrenia, families,and varieties ofexperienceincludingmind-expanding drugs. Hisotherbooks are TheDividedSelf SelfandOthers and Reason , and Violence (with David Cooper), and Interpersonal Perception (withH.PhiilipsonandA.R.Lee). AARONEsterSONwasborninGlasgowand,afterdemobiliza- tionfromthewartimeRoyalNavy,enteredGlasgowuniversity and graduated as a doctor ofmedicine in 1931. He worked in generalpracticeuntiltakinguppsychiatryin 1954,andbetween thenand 1962heldanumberofappointmentsinBritishmental hospitals and psychiatric units. He is a former Research Associate ofthe Tavistock Institute ofHuman Relations, and hasspentsometwoyearsasa kibbutzdoctorinIsrael.Finding itimpossibletopracticeintheNationalHealthservicethekind oftherapyhebelievedhispatientsrequired,heentered private practice in 1962, as an existential psychoanalyst and family A therapist. His new book. The Leaves ofSpring: Study in the DialecticofMadness,tobepublishedthisyear,embodiesmoreof hiswork. SANITY, MADNESS, AND THE FAMILY Families ofSchit^ophrenics R. D. LAING AND A. ESTERSON PENGUIN BOOKS Penguin BooksLtd, Harmondsworth,Middlesex,England Penguin BooksInc,71loAmbassadorRoad, Baltimore, Maryland112.07,U.S.A. PenguinBooksAustraliaLtd,Ringwood,Victoria, Australia FirstpublishedinU.S.A. byBasic Books 1964 Firstpublished inGreatBritainbyTavistock Publications 1964 Published inPelican Books 1970 © Reprinted 1970, 1971 Copyright TheTavistockInstituteofHumanRelations, 1964 Printed in theUnitedStatesofAmericaby KingsportPress,Inc, Kingsport,Tennessee SetinMonotypeGaramond 1 Contents Preface o PrefacetoSecondEdition 1 Introduction 15 FAMILIES 1. TheAbbotts 31 2. TheBlairs 51 The Churches 3. 75 4. TheDanzigs 109 TheEdens 5. 131 6. TheFields 144 7. TheGolds 159 8. TheHeads 176 Thelrwins 202 9. 10. TheKings 221 11. TheLawsons 232 Appendix 267 Index 279