--- title: "3 Alienation Quotes By R.D. Laing" description: "3 Alienation quotes by R.D. Laing. Plus more from R.D. Laing and more Alienation sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f61/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repr_243107.jpg" --- > [“What we call ‘normal’ is a product of repression, denial, splitting, projection, introjection and other forms of destructive action on experience. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repression-denial-splitting/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f61/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repr_243107.jpg) > [“Sanity today appears to rest very largely on a capacity to adapt to the external world—the interpersonal world, and the realm of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/sanity-today-appears-to-rest-very-largely-on-a-capacity-to-adapt-to/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_sanity-today-appears-to-rest-very-largel_755498.png) > [“Under the heading of "defense mechanisms,” psychoanalysis describes a number of ways in which a person becomes alienated from himself. For example,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/under-the-heading-of-defense-mechanisms-psychoanalysis-describes-a/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e7e/r-d-laing-2-35450_agency_under-the-heading-of-defense-mechanisms_1575519.jpg) ## Other authors on Alienation - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-erich-fromm-33632.jpg) Erich Fromm 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alienation/erich-fromm/) ## More by R.D. Laing > [“What we call ‘normal’ is a product of repression, denial, splitting, projection, introjection and other forms of destructive action on experience. It is radically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repression-denial-splitting/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“We have all been processed on Procrustean beds. At least some of us have managed to hate what they have made of us. Inevitably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/we-have-all-been-processed-on-procrustean-beds-at-least-some-of-us/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“The Lotus opens. Movement from earth, through water, from fire to air. Out and in beyond life and death now, beyond inner and outer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/the-lotus-opens-movement-from-earth-through-water-from-fire-to-air/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“What an interesting finger let me suck it. It's not an interesting finger take it away.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/what-an-interesting-finger-let-me-suck-it-it-s-not-an-interesting/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“The group, whether We or You or Them, is not a new individual or organism or hyperorganism on the social scene; it has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/the-group-whether-we-or-you-or-them-is-not-a-new-individual-or/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“Sanity today appears to rest very largely on a capacity to adapt to the external world—the interpersonal world, and the realm of human collectivities.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/sanity-today-appears-to-rest-very-largely-on-a-capacity-to-adapt-to/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“If I could turn you on, if I could drive you out of your wretched mind, if I could tell you I would let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/if-i-could-turn-you-on-if-i-could-drive-you-out-of-your-wretched-mind/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“This writing is not exempt. It remains like all writing an absurd and revolting effort to make an impression on a world that will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/this-writing-is-not-exempt-it-remains-like-all-writing-an-absurd-and/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“I am not fond of the word psychological. There is no such thing as the psychological. Let us say that one can improve the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/i-am-not-fond-of-the-word-psychological-there-is-no-such-thing-as-the/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“Under the heading of "defense mechanisms,” psychoanalysis describes a number of ways in which a person becomes alienated from himself. For example, repression, denial,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/under-the-heading-of-defense-mechanisms-psychoanalysis-describes-a/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“What we call 'normal' is a product of repression, denial, splitting, projection, introjection and other forms of destructive action on experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repression-denial-splitting-3/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“The greatest psychopathologist has been Freud. Freud was a hero. He descended to the “Underworld” and met there stark terrors. He carried with him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/the-greatest-psychopathologist-has-been-freud-freud-was-a-hero-he/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) > [“Since the self, in maintaining its isolation and detachment does not commit itself to a creative relationship with the other and is preoccupied with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/since-the-self-in-maintaining-its-isolation-and-detachment-does-not/) [R.D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing-2/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alienation/r-d-laing-2/#itemlist", "name": "3 Alienation Quotes By R.D. Laing", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What we call ‘normal’ is a product of repression, denial, splitting, projection, introjection and other forms of destructive action on experience. It is radically estranged from the structure of being. The more one sees this, the more senseless it is to continue with generalized descriptions of supposedly specifically schizoid, schizophrenic, hysterical ‘mechanisms.’ There are forms of alienation that are relatively strange to statistically ‘normal’ forms of alienation. The ‘normally’ alienated person, by reason of the fact that he acts more or less like everyone else, is taken to be sane. Other forms of alienation that are out of step with the prevailing state of alienation are those that are labeled by the ‘formal’ majority as bad or mad.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "R.D. Laing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repression-denial-splitting/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f61/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repr_243107.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f61/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repr_243107.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f61/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_what-we-call-normal-is-a-product-of-repr_243107.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What we call ‘normal’ is a product of repression, denial, splitting, projection, introjection and other…” — R.D. Laing", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Sanity today appears to rest very largely on a capacity to adapt to the external world—the interpersonal world, and the realm of human collectivities. As this external human world is almost completely and totally estranged from the inner, any personal direct awareness of the inner world already has grave risks. But since society, without knowing it, is starving for the inner, the demands on people to evoke it in a \"safe\" way, in a way that need not be taken seriously, etc., is tremendous—while the ambivalence is equally intense. Small wonder that the list of artists, in say the last 150 years, who have become shipwrecked on these reefs is so long...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "R.D. Laing" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing-2/sanity-today-appears-to-rest-very-largely-on-a-capacity-to-adapt-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_sanity-today-appears-to-rest-very-largel_755498.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_sanity-today-appears-to-rest-very-largel_755498.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48b/r-d-laing-2-35450_alienation_sanity-today-appears-to-rest-very-largel_755498.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sanity today appears to rest very largely on a capacity to adapt to the external world—the interpersonal…” — R.D. Laing", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Under the heading of \"defense mechanisms,” psychoanalysis describes a number of ways in which a person becomes alienated from himself. For example, repression, denial, splitting, projection, introjection. These \"mechanisms\" are often described in psychoanalytic terms as themselves \"unconscious,” that is, the person himself appears to be unaware that he is doing this to himself. Even when a person develops sufficient insight to see that \"splitting\", for example, is going on, he usually experiences this splitting as indeed a mechanism, an impersonal process, so to speak, which has taken over and which he can observe but cannot control or stop. There is thus some phenomenological validity in referring to such \"defenses\" by the term \"mechanism.” But we must not stop there. They have this mechanical quality because the person as he experiences himself is dissociated from them. He appears to himself and to others to suffer from them. They seem to be processes he undergoes, and as such he experiences himself as a patient, with a particular psychopathology. But this is so only from the perspective of his own alienated experience. As he becomes de-alienated he is able first of all to become aware of them, if he has not already done so, and then to take the second, even more crucial, step of progressively realizing that these are things he does or has done to himself. Process becomes converted back to praxis, the patient becomes an agent.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "R.D. 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