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Challenging, disturbing, revelatory and genuinely original, Smail's work has had too little influence to date in the world of academic and professional psychology. Perhaps this is because it is 20, maybe 50, years ahead of its time and doesn't satify our contemporary demand for 'serious' (that is tunnel-visioned, involuted and introverted) psychology. There's a surging current of analysis here that should be read by all students of psychology. And it is beautifully written. It represents a rare thing amongst the dross that is churned out to satisfy the appetite of the Reasearch Assessment Exercise - a book worth buying. Prof Gary Thomas, Univeristy of Birmingham, UK. The Psychologist, October 2005.
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Conventional therapeutic psychology suggest that we are essentially self-creating and able (with a little help from a therapist) to heal ourselves of the emotional ills that beset us. This kind of view reflects the wishful thinking and make-believe that are necessary for the success of modern consumer capitalism, but it does not reflect the way things are. The alternative set out here, based on the author's many years' experience of practice as a clinical psychologist, offers a language and a set of concepts that enable us to understand ourselves as real, embodied beings in an equally real world that resists mere wishfulness. Our experience of ourselves, as well as much of our conduct, are accounted for in terms of the social operations of power and interest - and a framework is established for making sense of our emotional distress as the outcome of environmental pressures. David Smail argues that to take ourselves seriously as social beings, embodied in a real world over which as individuals we have very little influence, is by no means grounds for despair. Rather, it encourages modesty, appreciation of good fortune, compassion and recognition of our common humanity.
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Therapeutic psychology has been going long enough now for it to have a discernible history. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Therapeutic psychology has been going long enough now for it to have a discernible history. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a 'must read' book for anybody suspicious of therapies from psychoanalysis to the endless 'self helps'. I won't try to summarise it for fear of crudifying the arguments. In sum though it locates the cause of much personal distress away from indidividual weakness or 'misunderstandings' to the more distal social setting. This can sound negative as far as conclusions that can be drawn but that's not the case.
The book is not particularly easy to read (unlike the 'self helps') but is short(ish), clear and employs useful diagrams. It is a book that makes you stop and think continuously.
It would certainly be one of my 'desert island' books (if that doesn't cut across the book's message). I cannot recommend it strongly enough in the absurdly impossible hope that writing like this could have the impact it deserves.
The book is not particularly easy to read (unlike the 'self helps') but is short(ish), clear and employs useful diagrams. It is a book that makes you stop and think continuously.
It would certainly be one of my 'desert island' books (if that doesn't cut across the book's message). I cannot recommend it strongly enough in the absurdly impossible hope that writing like this could have the impact it deserves.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have only recently discovered David Smail's books (thanks to Wikipedia) and have purchased the lot. Only radical and controversial in that he challenges the psychology industry and its' often outlandish claims. I found this book original, refreshing and far more practical than virtually any of the other material available today. He sticks to facts and the books are grounded in many years of practical experience not just a few case studies. No incomprehensible theories and outlandish claims.
In essence, he argues that we are the result of the power forces around us from family to much wider social forces and there is little we can do to change this other than use the resources and associations we already have or use them more efficiently. He has great insight and empathy which I found reassuring.
I loved this book and the way it takes on the establishment, lays bare how society and the apparatus of power really works. My only criticism is that unlike the other excellent review, I did not find it an easy read and had to go over key points a few times before I got them. His other books are an easier read but I would strongly recommend them all. I truly think David Smail is a national treasure (he is British and still alive) and deserves wider exposure. This should be mainstream but because it takes on conventional thinking and beliefs is unlikely to become so. An amazing read.
In essence, he argues that we are the result of the power forces around us from family to much wider social forces and there is little we can do to change this other than use the resources and associations we already have or use them more efficiently. He has great insight and empathy which I found reassuring.
I loved this book and the way it takes on the establishment, lays bare how society and the apparatus of power really works. My only criticism is that unlike the other excellent review, I did not find it an easy read and had to go over key points a few times before I got them. His other books are an easier read but I would strongly recommend them all. I truly think David Smail is a national treasure (he is British and still alive) and deserves wider exposure. This should be mainstream but because it takes on conventional thinking and beliefs is unlikely to become so. An amazing read.
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