Alienation in modernity: R.D Laing
R.D Laing was a Scottish psychiatrist and philosopher who gained prominence in the 1960’s for his radical and controversial views on mental illness. He viewed social and cultural factors as central to the creation and maintenance of mental illness. His views were in contrast to the prevailing mood of individualism which persists to this day. The individualistic view of mental illness tends to view mental illness as a problem to do with the individual. These days, such a view takes the form of biological reductionism. This view, now heavily dependent on the recent surge in neuroscientific brain studies, suggests that mental illness is the result of a dysfunction in brain processes.
Laing rejected this view. He saw mental illness as a response to maddening social and cultural factors. In his view, society has so severely alienated its citizens from themselves, others and the world, that mental illness was in fact an entirely appropriate response to modernity. In fact, what passes as “normal” in modern society, he says, is a state of mental illness in itself. Laing eschewed conventional notions of what it means to be “normal”, and thought that to be considered normal in this society is no sign of good health, it is rather a sign that one is profoundly alienated. He says that as modern people we are born alienated; that is, cut off from the world, body, feeling, emotion, sexuality and vitality. It is in this sense that Laing sees the modern person as existentially “alienated”.
Alienation has become “the condition of the normal man”, says Laing, and the most profound alienation is from oneself. Such a condition involves, in a sense, being asleep. Living as if in a dream or fugue state, being at a distance from experience, these are common complaints for modern people. It is the unnerving experience of living life as if from behind a screen, as if a shallowness had descended upon the modern experience. This experience has become so common that it is almost taken for granted, become “normal”.
Laing was a rebel in his time. Regardless of the controversy that surrounded him, and his curious interpersonal problems, his legacy remains relevant today. His contribution was a radical rejection of the taken for granted assumptions underpinning psychiatry. His views on alienation in modernity point to a pervasive problem for many in our society. He opens up a space for greater compassion toward those suffering from mental illness, because, within his framework, the blame is not placed squarely on their shoulders. The social and cultural forces which act upon our minds should never be ignored when we are seeking a path to mental wellbeing, and Laing reminds us to be critical of those cultural forces and to seek a deeper, more intimate connection with our lives in order to feel less alienated.
Sources
Laing, R. (2010). The divided self: An existential study in sanity and madness. Penguin UK.
