It was re-issued in a second edition (1969), which (in Laing's words) was “extensively revised, without being changed in any fundamental way”.
In the first part, Laing sets out from a critique of the Kleinian view of unconscious phantasy, as set out by Susan Sutherland Isaacs, for its lack of recognition of the interpersonal dialectics inherent in human experience.
[5] In the second part, Laing explored the extent to which an individual is or is not invested in their own actions, using ideas drawn from Martin Buber and Jean-Paul Sartre.
[6] He also extended the American concept of the double bind to cover the experience of the schizoid patient.
[7] In both sections, Laing uses material from Dostoyevsky to illustrate his theoretical points.