Aportaciones de Pedro Laín Entralgo a una psicología y psiquiatría centrada en la persona

The following pages show how Laín's research has contributed to a theoretical foundation of medical humanism and, specifically, of psychology and psychiatry. From a very young age, Pedro Laín Entralgo (1908-2001) began to develop an integrative style of science and humanism in order to humanize knowledge about man in general and sick people in particular, as well as the treatment of the patient understood as a subject who seeks his natural good as well as personal good. Regarding the ethical aspects of technical friendship between doctor and patient, he shows his commitment to the recovery of a professional with a soul. C. Gustav Jung (1875-1961) walked along the same path, advising health professionals: “know all the theories, master all the techniques, but when touching a human soul, be just another human soul.” The article has a biographical approach from which to show the influences that marked Laín's intellectual and personal development and then indicates the fundamental contributions to a study of the person from a comprehensive perspective.