Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: Psychology, Psychiatry, Sociology, Anti-Psychiatry, Academic, Mental Health, Social Science, Philosophy of Mind

Book Review (English):
'''Sanity, Madness and the Family' is a landmark and controversial text that challenged the very foundations of 20th-century psychiatry. R.D. Laing and Aaron Esterson present a series of eleven case studies of women diagnosed with schizophrenia, meticulously analyzing their interactions within their family units. The book's revolutionary argument is that the so-called 'symptoms' of madness are understandable, even rational, responses to impossible and contradictory communication patterns ('double binds') within the family. It posits madness not as a biological illness but as a strategy for survival in an untenable social situation. While some of its theories have been debated and its methodology questioned, the book's impact on social psychiatry, family therapy, and the service-user movement is undeniable. It is essential reading for students of psychology, sociology, and philosophy, offering a powerful, humanistic critique of institutional definitions of normality and illness. Its prose is accessible, making its complex ideas available to a general audience interested in the profound questions of mind, society, and who gets to define 'sanity'.''