R. D. Laing has offered a challenge to society and to psychiatry which is difficult to accept, for it implies that ‘sane’ society and psychiatry as its instrument actually perpetuate rather than alleviate certain kinds of mental illness. In spite of Laing's growing popularity with the counter-culture, there is a conspicuous lack of consideration of Laing's thought in the psychiatric literature. This may be taken as a rejection of what Laing says, a sort of professional passive aggression. Indeed many would suggest that Laing has passed the limits of sanity; he is certainly deviant. Yet psychiatry's reticence may reflect the difficulty in responding appropriately to Laing's indictment. Apparently there is much truth in Laing's analysis. It is existential, and his considerations involve each of us as persons, not just as members of a corporate group, psychiatrists or sane citizens. Furthermore there is a temptation either to accept or to reject what Laing says as a whole without careful attention to the implications of his arguments.
