The distinguished psychiatrist Dr R.D. Laing collapsed and died
yesterday while playing tennis on holiday in the South of France. He was
61.
Born and brought up in Gorbals in Glasgow, Dr Laing was one of the
most distinguished intellectuals Scotland has produced. His 1960 book,
The Divided Self, was one of the seminal influences on the intellectual
shape of the decade, selling 380,000 copies in paperback.
Ronald Laing graduated from Glasgow University in medicine in 1951 and
spent two years as a psychiatrist in the Army before taking up a post at
the Royal Mental Hospital in the city. Later he moved to the Tavistock
Clinic in London. There his ideas on the nature and treatment of mental
illness found their time and The Divided Self was followed by The Self
and Others and a succession of influential publications, including his
collection of existential verse, Knots.
At the beginning of this decade he published his autobiography, Facts
of Life, and a recently completed book is currently at the editing
stage.
Dr Laing leaves four children by his first wife, Anne, and three by
his second wife, Jutta. His youngest son Charles was born to girlfriend
Margharita two-and-a-half years ago.
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