Memory, ‘madness’ and conflict: A Laingian perspective

Abstract

R.D. Laing’s investigations into family relationships tell us much about memory as a source of psychological distress. Laing concluded that patterns of thinking and behaviour established in the family over generations are re-enacted whether we are aware of it or not. Using Laing’s studies of the family as a framework, we argue that the expression of emotion, identity, thought, belief and behaviour in social settings is subject to the formative nature of memory. The link between memory and psychological distress (of varying severity) becomes evident when individuals are exposed to either (1) an enacted ideology within the family or social group, which is transmitted across generations; (2) denial or concealment in the face of direct experience and/or empirical evidence, for example, injustices in the workplace, war crimes or (3) explicit and incontrovertible actions that destroy relationships and which create painful memories. Any unjustifiable attempt to reconstruct, undermine or eradicate memory may be experienced as an assault on psychological well-being whether in the family, the workplace or the community of nations.