The East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy presents
Madness in the Second Half of the Century:
Looking Back at R. D. Laing
Conversation and Performance
Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2, 1998
The humanization of madness was a striking achievement of the 20th century.
Beginning with Freud (who, it?s been argued, let ?the madman? into civil
society), the century has been marked by figures and movements struggling to
articulate and practice human and humanistic approaches to madness -- human as
in "part of the human condition" and humanistic as in "not an affliction."
R. D. Laing ranks among the most radical figures in this endeavor. During the
1960?s, his fame spread far beyond professional circles -- millions of people
in Europe and the Americas were profoundly affected by Laing?s insights into
the politics of madness and its socio-cultural base, along with his powerfully
drawn personal experiences as a radically humanistic psychiatrist. Mention
his name to someone who came of age in the 60?s and you?re likely to be told
that reading Knots or The Politics of Experience "saved my life."
The medicalization of mental illness, while a part of the process of
humanizing madness, so dominates discourse today that Laing?s voice is rarely
heard, even among those within the growing contemporary postmodern
alternatives, including constructionist, narrative and performatory
psychotherapies.
More than a reminiscence, Madness in the Second Half of the Century: Looking
Back at R. D. Laing will explore madness as part of the human condition and
examine its complex character in contemporary culture -- considered by many to
be a postmodern world without boundaries, without reality or truth, and
without meaning.
The two day event brings together psychotherapists and social scientists who
knew Laing personally -- as patients, students, colleagues or friends -- and
practitioners and leading theoreticians of the new movements for radically
humanistic psychologies and psychotherapies. It?s a unique opportunity to
participate with them in a series of conversations, multi-media performance
pieces, and an experiential workshop.
Speakers include Lenora Fulani, a developmental psychologist and social
therapist; Steve Gans,. a philosophic practitioner who writes on existential,
psychoanalytic, deconstructive and ethical themes; David Greenblatt, who set
up the Burch House, a psychiatric alternative similar to those founded by
Laing in London; Scott Gremmel, the founder and director of Analytica
Institute and member of Apres-Coup Psychoanalytic Association; John Heaton, a
psychiatrist who met Laing in 1960 and, at his request, started the
Philadelphia Association?s psychotherapy training; Lois Holzman, a
developmental psychologist and director of educational programs at the East
Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy in New York City; Frances Huxley,
a social anthropologist with particular interests in shaminism, possession
cults and other forms of inspired activity. Barbara Latham, is a
psychotherapist and fiction writer living in London; Sheila McNamee, professor
and chair of Communication at the University of New Hampshire and a founding
member of the Taos Institute; Bob Mullan, a writer, lecturer and documentary
film-maker living in London. He is author of two recent ones on Laing; Fred
Newman, the creator of performatory social therapy, one of the "new
psychologies," and director of training at the East Side Instate for Short
Term Psychotherapy in New York City and Leon Redler, a native New Yorker who
left psychiatric training to work with Maxwell Jones and R. D. Laing in the
UK.
Schedule
Friday, May 1 6:00 - 10:00 pm
New York University Medical Center, Schwartz E
401 East 30th Street (between First Avenue and FDR Drive)
New York City
Saturday, May 2 2:00 - 6:00 pm and 8:00 - 11:00 pm
Saturday?s experiential workshop is for those who wish to work directly with
the guest presenters and further explore the issues raised in the Friday
evening session. Limited to 80 people.
Performance of a Lifetime
588 Broadway, Suite 403 (between Houston and Prince)
New York City
Two Day Registration: $85.00 Friday Only: $35.00
For tickets and information, call (212) 941-8906 or, as of April 1, register
online at www.castillo.org
East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy
500 Greenwich Street, Suite 202
New York, New York 10013
Tel: (212) 941-8906
Fax: (212) 941-8340
Email: esiesc@xxxxxxx
PLEASE POST
Madness in the Second Half of the Century:
Looking Back at R. D. Laing
Conversation and Performance
Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2, 1998
The humanization of madness was a striking achievement of the 20th century.
Beginning with Freud (who, it?s been argued, let ?the madman? into civil
society), the century has been marked by figures and movements struggling to
articulate and practice human and humanistic approaches to madness -- human as
in "part of the human condition" and humanistic as in "not an affliction."
R. D. Laing ranks among the most radical figures in this endeavor. During the
1960?s, his fame spread far beyond professional circles -- millions of people
in Europe and the Americas were profoundly affected by Laing?s insights into
the politics of madness and its socio-cultural base, along with his powerfully
drawn personal experiences as a radically humanistic psychiatrist. Mention
his name to someone who came of age in the 60?s and you?re likely to be told
that reading Knots or The Politics of Experience "saved my life."
The medicalization of mental illness, while a part of the process of
humanizing madness, so dominates discourse today that Laing?s voice is rarely
heard, even among those within the growing contemporary postmodern
alternatives, including constructionist, narrative and performatory
psychotherapies.
More than a reminiscence, Madness in the Second Half of the Century: Looking
Back at R. D. Laing will explore madness as part of the human condition and
examine its complex character in contemporary culture -- considered by many to
be a postmodern world without boundaries, without reality or truth, and
without meaning.
The two day event brings together psychotherapists and social scientists who
knew Laing personally -- as patients, students, colleagues or friends -- and
practitioners and leading theoreticians of the new movements for radically
humanistic psychologies and psychotherapies. It?s a unique opportunity to
participate with them in a series of conversations, multi-media performance
pieces, and an experiential workshop.
Speakers include Lenora Fulani, a developmental psychologist and social
therapist; Steve Gans,. a philosophic practitioner who writes on existential,
psychoanalytic, deconstructive and ethical themes; David Greenblatt, who set
up the Burch House, a psychiatric alternative similar to those founded by
Laing in London; Scott Gremmel, the founder and director of Analytica
Institute and member of Apres-Coup Psychoanalytic Association; John Heaton, a
psychiatrist who met Laing in 1960 and, at his request, started the
Philadelphia Association?s psychotherapy training; Lois Holzman, a
developmental psychologist and director of educational programs at the East
Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy in New York City; Frances Huxley,
a social anthropologist with particular interests in shaminism, possession
cults and other forms of inspired activity. Barbara Latham, is a
psychotherapist and fiction writer living in London; Sheila McNamee, professor
and chair of Communication at the University of New Hampshire and a founding
member of the Taos Institute; Bob Mullan, a writer, lecturer and documentary
film-maker living in London. He is author of two recent ones on Laing; Fred
Newman, the creator of performatory social therapy, one of the "new
psychologies," and director of training at the East Side Instate for Short
Term Psychotherapy in New York City and Leon Redler, a native New Yorker who
left psychiatric training to work with Maxwell Jones and R. D. Laing in the
UK.
Schedule
Friday, May 1 6:00 - 10:00 pm
New York University Medical Center, Schwartz E
401 East 30th Street (between First Avenue and FDR Drive)
New York City
Saturday, May 2 2:00 - 6:00 pm and 8:00 - 11:00 pm
Saturday?s experiential workshop is for those who wish to work directly with
the guest presenters and further explore the issues raised in the Friday
evening session. Limited to 80 people.
Performance of a Lifetime
588 Broadway, Suite 403 (between Houston and Prince)
New York City
Two Day Registration: $85.00 Friday Only: $35.00
For tickets and information, call (212) 941-8906 or, as of April 1, register
online at www.castillo.org
East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy
500 Greenwich Street, Suite 202
New York, New York 10013
Tel: (212) 941-8906
Fax: (212) 941-8340
Email: esiesc@xxxxxxx
PLEASE POST