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CBT: The Cognitive Behavioural Tsunami: Managerialism, Politics and the Corruptions of Science

Author(s) : Farhad Dalal

Reviews and Endorsements

'Under the sway of neoliberalism, the ‘happiness industry’ is in full flow and cognitive behaviour therapy is the technology of treatment for those who fall by the wayside. In this combative and passionate book, Farhad Dalal draws on his expertise in psychotherapy and critical thinking to reveal the corruptions of argument and evidence on which the dominance of CBT is based. The book is a much-needed and timely reminder of the dangers inhabiting simplistic responses to complex social and personal conditions.'
Prof. Stephen Frosh Professor of Psychosocial Studies, Birbeck, University of London

'With devastating irony and a poetic turn of phrase, this tightly argued yet wide ranging essay about politicised behaviourism in psychotherapy today is both highly instructive and entirely persuasive. ….. Farhad Dalal redeems the possibilities of Group Analysis from the corrosions and dilutions of neo-liberal economists and administrators. It is good to have him on our side!'
Earl Hopper, Ph.D., Mem.Inst.GA, CGP, DFAGPA. Psychoanalyst, group analyst and organisational consultant in private practice in London

'This book is an analysis of the triumph of CBT as a method of ‘treating’ ‘depression’ but its argument also offers an urgent critique of the dysfunctions of our hyper-rational culture. By splitting nature from humankind, and then splitting emotion and ethics from reason in the latter, Dalal notes we have ended up with a perversion of Enlightenment values where the only things that count are the things that can be counted.'
Paul Hoggett, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and Chair of the Climate Psychology Alliance

'Dalal gives us a devastatingly forensic critique of the weaknesses of CBT and the supposed ‘science’ that backs it up, and of the ruthless professional politics that have led its proponents to win the battle for the nation’s souls. His term ‘cognitivist delusion’ says it all. But in addition, as with his previous books, he lays bare the deeper intellectual and cultural histories that have conspiratorially allowed the ‘mental health professions’ to short-change citizens in the service of materialist capitalism and a society dominated by elites.'
Professor Andrew Samuels, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University Of Essex

'This is an absolute masterpiece and should be read by anyone interested in anything to do with mental health or psychotherapy or economics or neoliberalism. Farhad has a wonderfully clear, engaging, intellectually rigorous, at times witty, style; but with a great talent for making complex phenomena easy to understand.'
Sami Timimi, Director of Medical Education Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation NHS Trust

'A powerful and courageous book chartering, among other things, the deep inefficiencies and failings of our IAPT-based CBT services.'
James Davies, Reader in Social Anthropology & Mental Health University of Roehampton, author of Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good

'In this most timely contribution, Dalal forensically lays bare the limitations of CBT as a response to human distress and the grandiosity of many of its claims and shows how the systematic adoption of CBT causes injury to our image of ourselves. An invaluable resource for those wanting to understand and to stand against the absurdities of hyper-rationalism.'
David Glyn, President, Group Analytic Society International

'A timely and crushing debunking of dominant mental health paradigms, opening up possibilities for a more humane approach to human suffering, rooted in rigorous socio-political analysis.'
Graham Music, Author of Nurturing Natures

'This book raises fundamental questions of the ethics and human essence of our psychotherapeutic endeavours that speak urgently to the future of psychotherapy.'
William F. Cornell, Author of Somatic Experience in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

'An important book for those worried about the clinical value of CBT. Dalal presents a rich and fundamental critique of CBT as well as the systems that support it. Dalal is an independent thinker who courageously challenges the DSM and the power politics of psycho-therapy.'
Dr. Robi Friedman, Past President of the International Group Analytic Society