The Divided Self

At the heart of most psychological research is the question of how and why people go mad. Rarely do researchers come up with as satisfying an answer as Dr. R.D. Laing does here. After years of helping schizophrenic patients deal with their problems, he has a thorough, sympathetic understanding of this complicated inner problem. By examining patients in case studies on a continuity of sanity he demonstrates how personalities can move along this continuum. The Divided Self explores the breakdown of personality that occurs when patients do what they can to cope with the world around them and end up destroying themselves. 218 pages.