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The Self and Others is a psychological study by R. D. Laing, first published in 1961 by the Tavistock Institute. It was re-issued in a second edition (1969), which (in Laing's words) was “extensively revised, without being changed in any fundamental way”.[1]
The book was presented as "a study of persona relations in situations of extremity". The book formed part of a series of writings by Laing in the 1960s on the relationship of madness to the self within a social context or nexus,[2] writings which created something of a cult of Laing at the time.[3]
Self and Others is divided into two parts, called respectively 'Modes of Interpersonal Experience' and 'Forms of Interpersonal Action'. In the first part, Laing sets out from a critique of the Kleinian view of unconscious phantasy, as set out by Susan Sutherland Isaacs, for its lack of recognition of the interpersonal dialectics inherent in human experience.[4] He also uses Kleinian thought to emphasize the omnipresence of social phantasy systems.[5]
In the second part, Laing explored the extent to which an individual is or is not invested in their own actions, using ideas drawn from Martin Buber and Jean-Paul Sartre.[6] He also extended the American concept of the double bind to cover the experience of the schizoid patient.[7]
In both sections, Laing uses material from Dostoyevsky to illustrate his theoretical points.[8]
M. Howarth-Williams, R. D. Laing (1977)