David Smail was awarded a PhD in psychology by University College London in 1965. While working for the NHS as a clinical psychologist, he helped pioneer the 'therapeutic community' approach to mental disorder. He moved to Nottingham in 1968 he held the honorary post of Special Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Nottingham from 1979 until 2000. Other books by David Smail include The Origins of Unhappiness, How to Survive Without Psychotherapy, The Nature of Unhappiness, and Why Therapy Doesn't Work.

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 Research Assessment Exercise - a book worth buying. Prof Gary Thomas, University of Birmingham, UK. The Psychologist, October 2005.

• Introduction; 1. Looking Back; 2. A Societal Perspective; 3. The Cultural Context of Therapy; 4. Responsibility; 5. What Then Must We Do?; Epilogue

David Smail was awarded a PhD in psychology by University College London in 1965. While working for the NHS as a clinical psychologist, he helped pioneer the 'therapeutic community' approach to mental disorder. He moved to Nottingham in 1968 he held the honorary post of Special Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Nottingham from 1979 until 2000. Other books by David Smail include The Origins of Unhappiness, How to Survive Without Psychotherapy, The Nature of Unhappiness, and Why Therapy Doesn't Work.

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 Research Assessment Exercise - a book worth buying. Prof Gary Thomas, University of Birmingham, UK. The Psychologist, October 2005.

• Introduction; 1. Looking Back; 2. A Societal Perspective; 3. The Cultural Context of Therapy; 4. Responsibility; 5. What Then Must We Do?; Epilogue

David Smail was awarded a PhD in psychology by University College London in 1965. While working for the NHS as a clinical psychologist, he helped pioneer the 'therapeutic community' approach to mental disorder. He moved to Nottingham in 1968 he held the honorary post of Special Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Nottingham from 1979 until 2000. Other books by David Smail include The Origins of Unhappiness, How to Survive Without Psychotherapy, The Nature of Unhappiness, and Why Therapy Doesn't Work.

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 Research Assessment Exercise - a book worth buying. Prof Gary Thomas, University of Birmingham, UK. The Psychologist, October 2005.

• Introduction; 1. Looking Back; 2. A Societal Perspective; 3. The Cultural Context of Therapy; 4. Responsibility; 5. What Then Must We Do?; Epilogue