In R.D. Laing. In his first book, The Divided Self (1960), he theorized that ontological insecurity (insecurity about one's existence) prompts a defensive reaction in which the self splits into separate components, thus generating the psychotic symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia.

Who wrote the Divided self?

The Divided Self, R.D. Laing's groundbreaking exploration of the nature of madness, illuminated the nature of mental illness and made the mysteries of the mind comprehensible to a wide audience.

When did Rd Laing write the Divided self?

R. D. Laing's The Divided Self was never reviewed in this journal. The author's first book, it was published in 1960, and became essential reading in the intellectual counter-culture of the 1960's and 1970's.