R.D. Laing's theological hinterland: the contrast between mysticism and communion.
History of psychiatry June 1, 2012 Gavin Miller 13 citations
R.D. Laing's psychiatry drew on two distinct Christian theologies: mystical theology, which he combined with psychoanalysis to offer a New Age psychotherapeutic path to authentic selfhood through metanoia, and corporate, incarnational theology, which drove his advocacy for social inclusion of the mentally ill via therapeutic communities. For Laing and other post-war British Christians, both a turn inward toward mysticism and self-sacralization and a turn outward toward social and political activism were strategies for coping with the decline of traditional Christianity.