ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore Laing’s efforts to account for the etiology of psychopathological symptoms. I explore, in turn, his emphasis on the violence that is a consequence of deception often perpetrated in families and how such deceptive communications may occasion efforts to mystify family members, especially children, that may, in turn, elicit trauma. I compare Freud’s and Laing’s respective conceptions of trauma, contrasting Freud’s emphasis on neuroses and Laing’s on psychoses to tease out their respective similarities and differences.
