Leon Redler and the Philadelphia Association
Leon Redler also came from the United States
to work with Maxwell Jones at Dingleton hospital. He
then moved to London to work at Kingsley Hall. He is a practising
psychotherapist and also a practitioner of the Alexander Technique, Hatha Yoga
and Zen. Although he has not written any significant contribution to
anti-psychiatry, he was an apologist for Laing (eg. Redler, 1976).
Contact with Laing encouraged Redler's pursuit of Zen
and Buddhism (Gans & Redler,
2001).
Redler remained loyal to Laing when Laing eventually left
the Philadelphia Association (PA). Part of the reason for the split was Laing's
interest in birth and pre-birth experience. Redler
became Chair from February 1997 to February 1999, the first to hold that
position since it was vacated by Laing in 1981. He has
been said to embody the tradition that Laing generated in setting up the PA (Gans & Redler, 2001).
From the beginning, the aim of the Philadelphia Association (PA) (http://www.philadelphia-association.co.uk)
was to "change the way the 'facts' of 'mental health' and 'mental illness'
are seen" (Cooper, 1994). It has fostered the development of several
therapeutic community households in London. Its training courses, although
psychoanalytically orientated, built on Laing's interests in social
phenomenology and spiritual traditions.
The PA is now a member of the psychoanalytic and psychodynamic section
of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), as is the Arbours
Association. Members of the PA households are encouraged to be in individual
psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The cost of staying in the
houses has been funded by housing benefit and the social housing maintenance
grant, unlike the Arbours Association which charges a fee.
Cooper,
R. (1994) (with S. Gans, J.M. Heaton, H. Oakley &
P. Zeal) Beginnings.
In: R. Cooper, J. Friedman, S. Gans, J.M. Heaton, C.
Oakley, H. Oakley & P. Zeal Threholds
between philosophy and psychoanalysis. London: Free Association Books
Gans, S. & Redler,
L. (2001) (in conversation with B. Mullan) Just listening. Philadelphia: Xlibris Corporation
Redler, L. (1976) Anti-psychiatry. [Letter] The New Review, 3:
71-2