APPROXIMATIONS BETWEEN THE “SCHIZOID CONDITION” IN LAING AND THE CATEGORY OF THE DEMONIC "IN KIERKEGAARD’S CONCEPT OF ANGUISH"

Abstract

The objective of this work is to bring together the schizoid condition, described by the existential psychiatrist Ronald Laing (1927-1989), and the demonic category, described by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Currently, the schizoid condition finds some definitions in mental disorder manuals, however, the main manual used in contemporary society, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), had released its first version in 1953, that is, a few years ago. before the psychiatrist published his main work The Divided Self (1960). However, Laing intended to go beyond the classical psychiatry references of his time; he wanted to understand the schizoid condition from an existential point of view and, therefore, turned to Kierkegaard. For Laing, the self in the schizoid condition is considered as more or less disembodied, felt as a mental entity and which penetrates the condition called closure by Kierkegaard. This condition of closure, of which Laing speaks, is found in chapter IV of the work The concept of anguish (1844) by the pseudonym Vigilius Haufniensis. In it, Haufniensis deals with closure under the rubric of the demonic. Therefore, the work consists of a brief investigation of Laing's use of Kierkegaard’s category of the demonic for an existential understanding of the schizoid condition.