“May all Be Shattered into God”: Mary Barnes and Her Journey through Madness in Kingsley Hall

This article provides the first in-depth reading of Mary Barnes and Joseph Berke's book "Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey through Madness," which documents the radical therapeutic community at Kingsley Hall, London (1965-1970). The reading examines how the book offers ground-level views of anti-psychiatry that critique 1960s utopianism, particularly R.D. Laing's championing of madness as a quasi-psychedelic voyage. Barnes emerges as more than an exemplary patient or victim, revealing tensions within the anti-psychiatric movement. The analysis focuses on differences between the spiritually inclined Barnes and psychoanalytic Berke, their differences from Laing, the journey metaphor, and the conflicted setting of Kingsley Hall.

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Abstract

Contributing to renewed scholarly interest in R. D. Laing and his circle, and in the radical therapeutic community of Kingsley Hall, London (1965-1970), this article offers the first article-length reading of Mary Barnes' and Joseph Berke's Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey through Madness. This text offers views of anti-psychiatry 'on the ground' that critique the 1960s utopianism of Laing's championing of madness as a metanoic, quasi-psychedelic voyage. Barnes' story, too, reveals tensions within the anti-psychiatric movement. Moving beyond existing criticism of the text, Barnes, it is argued here, emerges as far more than an exemplary patient, victim or anti-psychiatric puppet. Particular attention is paid in this reading of Two Accounts to the following: the ways in which the spiritually inclined Barnes and the psychoanalytic Berke differ in this dual narrative text; the ways in which each differs from Laing; the metaphor of the journey; and the setting of Barnes' story in the often conflicted, experimental household of Kingsley Hall.