R. D. Laing

Ronald David Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness – in particular, the experience of psychosis.


 * "There is one page in the Bird of Paradise that I don’t think I could have written without the experience of mescaline, which with some hesitation I put it and incorporated it into that text"
 * "Knowing what ain’t so": R. D. Laing and Thomas Szasz. Reprinted from Psychoanalytic Review, 91: 331-346 (June), 2004. http://www.critpsynet.freeuk.com/Knowing.htm


 * While Laing is against the use of drugs in the treatment of mental illness, he has himself occasionally taken LSD since 1960 and uses it selectively in his practice. He says that LSD "deserves sustained attention and can be valuable in the right context—but dangerous if misused." Laing last took the drug a year ago to probe the inadequacy of his left hand at the piano (he transposes Bach's two-part Inventions into different keys).
 * People May 03, 1976 Vol. 5 No. 17 http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20066437,00.html