| Abstract: | Reviews the book, The crucible of experience: R. D. Laing and the crisis of psychotherapy by Daniel Burston (see record 2000-03710-000). Unlike his earlier book, which was more biographical and focused on R. D. Laing’s personal experiences, this book is devoted to examining the man’s contributions to contemporary psychotherapeutic theory and practice. This, of course, is no easy task as Laing is a notoriously unsystematic thinker, whose work often violated entrenched disciplinary expectations and challenged conventional sensibilities and assumptions. Despite such obvious obstacles, however, Burston does an excellent job laying out Laing’s intellectual indebtedness to existentialism and phenomenology, as well as his lasting contributions to existential psychiatry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
