The Heart of the Matter: R. D. Laing's Enigmatic Relationship with Psychoanalysis

One might expect that a paper concerning R. D. Laing's enigmatic relationship with and contribution to psychoanalysis would examine Laing's impact on the psychoanalytic community in England, where Laing lived and practiced, and in the United States, where he enjoyed enormous popularity throughout most of his career (though it had significantly waned by the time of his death in 1989). Were this my objective I would be faced with a quandary because, in fact, Laing enjoyed relatively little, if any, impact on the psychoanalytic community in either England or the United States. Indeed, rather than assume Laing's influence, one must ask, What has R. D. Laing contributed to psychoanalysis, in the widest possible meaning of this question? Is there, for example, a Laingian theory that delineates his conception of psychoanalysis? Or can we point to a Laingian technique that Laing counseled others to follow? Despite his enormous contribution to contemporary thought, it must be admitted that there is neither a Laingian theory nor technique that pertains to his way of conducting psychoanalytic treatment or, for that matter, any form of treatment whatsoever. Nevertheless, Laing was trained as a psychoanalyst at the British Psychoanalytic Institute and, though he drifted away from the psychoanalytic community following the completion of his training, he continued to call