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Ni'k:
Have you seen Ken Loach's film, Family Life? It's inspired by Laing's practices at Kingsley Hall and really is excellent.
I definitely agree with what you say about how disturbing Sanity, Madness and the Family is. That was my first introduction to Laing and really got me into looking at him and his ideas in more detail. Also, have you read David Cooper's book, Death of the Family? It was written at about the same time as Laing's book and covers similar ground (Cooper was also a key figure within the anti-psychiatry movemernt) but with some interesting differences. I keep trying to get hold of a copy of Asylums but haven't had any luck so far.
Notyourfiend:
Yeah, i think the main difference between Laing and Foucault was that Laing was really observing on his own practice as a psychiatrist, while Foucault was trying to place similar ideas within some kind of a historical framework, especially in Birth of the Clinic.
Regarding Guattari, the Guattari Reader has some good essays dealing explicitely with Laing and his own experience as part of the anti-psychiatry movement. Really interesting, and far easier to absorb than a lot of what he wrote in collaboration with Deleuze.
It's funny, I was thinking about Artaud while thinking about your point regarding Foucault and your mention of Artaud's book Theatre and its Double reminded me that I really must get around to reading it. So thanks for that.
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