Open Dialogue With Rd Laing

The conceptual systems of R. D. Laing and open dialogue share the fundamental premise that the symptoms of psychosis are intelligible responses to some difficult aspects of life's experience. Laing developed this theme, but published no definitive account of his psychotherapy. By contrast, open dialogue comprises a set of network-based therapeutic manoeuvres grounded in empirical outcome data. Examination of the interfaces between these two approaches suggests a line of research that may make for an expansion of open dialogue, as well as for a long-overdue empirical examination of Laing's theory of psychosis.