Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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126 of 141 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Were the 1950s really so good?, 13 Feb 2006
By A Customer
In this book Oliver James argues that, though the British people are materially better off than in the 1950s, they are also unhappier. James’ explanation for this is the way advanced capitalism has developed. He argues that consumerism creates expectations that cannot be met. He quotes from statistics showing that the incidence of stress, depression, suicides, violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, and marriage breakdown have all increased compared with the 1950s despite the increase in material wealth of the majority of the population. But are James’ arguments valid? It is possible to disagree with many of James’ points. Firstly, statistics can be used to demonstrate almost anything and many of those cited by James are misleading and exaggerate the increase in mental health difficulties and social problems.
Secondly, it can be said that he emphasizes today’s problems and minimizes those of previous times; is it really true, that the feudal serf was not so discontented; or that Japanese women do not suffer unhappiness because of their low status? And is the author really saying that people in 1950s – or earlier – did not aspire to better status and compared themselves unfavorably with others?
Thirdly, both the awareness and diagnosis of mental health conditions have changed since the 1950s; many normal processes and activities, which are part and parcel of being human, have been pathologised and medicalised by an ever expanding army of mental health professionals with careers and positions to protect.
Fourthly, James cites the increase in the incidence of divorces as a cause of increasing unhappiness; but the situation that existed when divorce was not easily available, when people were trapped in unhappy marriages – caused untold misery. As did all the old taboos and prejudices that constricted and suffocated life in the 1950s; homosexuality, unmarried motherhood are only two examples.
Fifthly, all the problems James associated with western consumerism, are nothing compared with the misery of the masses in the developing world. There is something disingenuous and false about this book, with its barely concealed nostalgia for the 1950s, when women knew their place and homosexuality was still a disease. I am glad I wasn’t around at the time.
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52 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Overstating the case, 3 Jan 2008
I agree with the main thesis of this book - that too many of us have failed to adapt ourselves, particularly in our emotional responsiveness, to the peculiar stresses of advanced capitalism. However, much of the case is so overstated and over-evidenced that much of the time I had the impression I was reading someone's PhD thesis. The chapters on gender rancour are definitely overkill. Yes, this stuff needs saying, but could have been condensed into a quarter of the space. Indeed, the whole book is severely let down not just by James' considerable over-detailing but also the lack of even the most basic visual representations of the mass of data he puts before us.
In the later chapters James becomes more opinionated, particularly as he starts to give advice about what sort of therapy the serotonin-deficient among us might go for. Admittedly, evidence for the effectiveness of particular therapies is scant, but this does not deter James from emphasising psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioural approaches at the expense of what he calls, oddly and with no elaboration, 'middle' therapies. In his enthusiasm to distinguish counselling from psychotherapy, he virtually dismisses the former as 'something you do when someone close to you has died'. A lot of effort has gone into describing psychoanalysis, even though it is hardly available outside London and is rarely indicated these days except for the super-rich.
Some of the suggestions James puts forward in his last chapter for treating the low-serotonin society verge on the authoritarian. I happen to agree with him about some of these [e.g. limiting certain types of advertising] but his case has the character of a rant, which detracts somewhat from the erudition and rationality of the preceding chapters.
As a Certified Transactional Analyst who undertook six years of rigorous training in psychotherapy I was disgusted at James' misguided and misleading assertion in his Appendix 3 on types of treatment that "transactional analysis is generally a form of counselling" [p 360]. I do hope that in the years since he wrote this he has managed to meet and learn from some of the increasing number of therapists who are integrating a range of evidence-based approaches in their work.
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25 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I could relate to it, 30 Nov 2006
Oliver James is a controversial media figure because he speaks his mind. While I do not agree with all his views, as a sufferer of depression most of this book rang true with me.
Genetics aside, he systematically describes ALL of the reasons why I feel depressed. When I started reading the book I was feeling depressed, and when I finished reading it I felt enlightened and angry, angry at this society which puts so much pressure on people to succeed, often leading to mental illness, and a society where mental illness is frowned upon and people are led to believe that depression is their own fault for not grasping all the manifold opportunies now available to us.
I do not think the main point of the book is whether or not people are happier or unhappier than they were in the 1950s. The point of the book is that a lot of people ARE unhappy NOW and this is largely to do with the way our society operates.
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