The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness (Penguin Psychology)

The divided self like the divided mind, is an abstraction and like all things human, requires our compassion to understand. While The Divided Self is not a new book (around since 1959/1960) it remains to this day a ground breaking psychological study.Who as a psychologist, philosopher, or student of literature has not come across the idea of the schizoid personality? Some even believe it is the plague of our times. For example, you can read, "The Shallows", "The Minimal Self", and "The Culture of Narcissism". This state of deepening fragmentation of the self manifests as the false self system, a sort of borderline psychoses. In this world where everything is "suffused with nothingness", the real self lays hidden just waiting for some penetrating soul to help it discover "It" is not really an "IT" but an "I".

This is an excellent and entertaining book. You don't have to be a schizophrenic or psychology researcher to find value within its pages. I randomly ordered this book a few years ago - having never heard of Laing and having never read anything in this genera - and it is now one of my favorite books that I have ever read. Highly recommended for anyone with even the slightest interest. Laing takes case studies of an extremely complex phenomenon - the divided self- and breaks it down logically to such an extent that even comatose schizophrenia becomes completely understandable

In an age of pharmacology and dehumanizing treatment, this book gives us the best way to understand a schizoid patient.A bit repetitive at times, but always interesting and passionate about its message: Schizoids are afraid.Their angst is almost impossible for us to grasp.But this book tries to make us feel their ontological insecurity, with the help of examples, cases and even literary references.And believe me.Laing achieves his purpose.

This should be mandatory reading for Psychology majors, and anyone who wants to work in the mental health field.On one hand, this is a great book about schizophrenics and their existential issues.On the other hand, everything in this book also applies to non-psychotic people, and THIS is why this book is so far ahead of others in its field, even for as old as it is. It's too bad not many people read it anymore.

I’ve found this book very eye opening and useful in daily life. I especially enjoy listen to it by saying “Alexa read Kindle”

A psychotherapy classic. A must read for every professional therapist as well as those aspiring therapists. In our day of psychopharmacology we are fortunate to have this book. It was ahead of its time.

Very technical and more technical than I was looking for.

This book arrived super-fast and in way better condition than I thought it would. I prefer old/vintage books so sometimes it can be a challenge to find popular ones this in tact. It awesome!! I can't wait to read it and see what else the seller has.Thanks!!

He changed a perspective!

Good

Excellent stuff - one of those I'll have to re-read a few times to digest and savour but a proper page turner with that longed-for "wow, this is insightful and original" feeling you always hope for from non-fiction, especially science-based books (or I do, anyway).Something of a historical piece now, it reads fresh, basically positing that we are living in a "mad" world and the toll this takes on our personalities means that sometimes they warp and shatter under the pressure. The usual way we function psychologically - creating different "selfs" (nowadays, I guess, more likely to be called masks) - works to help us in social and personal situations but can also work against us. False selfs, which we might create to protect what we perceive as our 'real', 'unknowable' selfs, can become overpowering and can end up distancing ourself from 'reality' and our other 'selfs', including our real self. Basically, in extreme cases, our psyche fractures and we become lost in the pieces, feeling detached from the world and often unable to put ourselves back together (often, of course, unwilling, too).Laing's idea is that instead of confining such broken, 'mad' individuals to extreme treatments and/or exile, we should attempt to, by listening and understanding, bring them back to a version of themselves which can live in the world. This may not be possible but, he says, it should be preferable to simply cutting them off or drugging them.Laing says this much more eloquently than I ever could and with far more depth, insight and professionalism. The above summary is what I took from it. Like I said, I'll be going back, not so much to find out more about patients, but to find out more about myself.I found the book a genuinely enlightening peer into my own mind.

Possibly the best psych book i've ever read.Fascinating insights into the minds of schizophrenics presented through case studies.Very useful.Goes well with -- The Mastery and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist

序盤の、無理に実存主義流の解釈を展開する部分に、今更共感する人は少ないだろう。つまり学説としては時代遅れかな　しかしこれは二十歳のころの、いささか病的であった私の心を打った。今なら発達障害という言葉を自分に当てはめてあれこれ足掻くことになっていたろうが、もちろんそんな概念はなく、心理学の本をたくさん読んで解決の糸口を探ろうとしていた。その時であった本だ　現実にうまく適合できていないという感じ、自分が壊れていくような不安、他人の心が読めないという焦りからの不器用さ。そういうものがうまく表現できていると思った。ただ、そういうものはスキゾフレニアに固有な症状とは言えない。中島敦のいくつかの作、太宰の「人間失格」、サルトルの「嘔吐」など、文学のモチーフとしても使いやすい　私は今介護を抱えているが、被介護人の心中をあれこれ考えるうちにこの本を思い出し、再読した。見事に描写できていると思った。つまりこれは人間が壊れていくことの一般的な状況について書かれており、その意味ではスキゾフレニアの分析としては極めて一面的ではないか　どんな病気でも、患者を一つの人格として遇することには意義がある。例えば認知症において、当人の気持ちを十分にくみ取ってあげることは、根本的な治療とはならない（ここが非常に大事）が、治療を補完し、当人の幸福や周囲の安定をもたらす重要な契機とはなるだろう。ようやくそのような流れになりつつある。おそらく統合失調症においてもそうなのだろう　内面を理解するということ。その嚆矢として評価したい。精神分析はどうだという声が聞こえそうだが、私はあれを外側からの理解だと思っている。つまり他人事である。また最近では統合失調症のカミングアウトを試みるコミックなどもたくさん出たが、異常性を強調する方向へ傾いており、自分に引き付けて理解することが難しいと感じた　人格の崩壊は無前提に語れることだ。現存在分析の枠組みは残念ながら邪魔に思えるだろう。しかし内面を語るために必要な助走だったと思う。そしてこの本はうまく書けている。ただし、私が個人的な体験から過剰な読み込みをしている可能性もあり、その点は何とも言えない。存在論的な枠組みを述べる前半を飛ばして読むことをお勧めしたい