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Book Launch: Farhad Dalal on CBT

Farhad Dalal, CBT – The Cogntive Behavioural Tsunami: Managerialism, Politics and the Corruptions of Science (London: Routledge, 2o19)

This book, which will be of interest to many followers of Norbert Elias, especially in view of his role in the foundation of Group Analysis, will be launched as follows:

Venue: The Institute of Group Analysis, London. 1 Daleham Gardens, London, NW3 5BY.

Date: Friday February the 8th.

Time: 6.30 pm to 10 pm.

Farhad writes: There will be some wine and nibbles and (of course) copies of the book to purchase at a discounted rate. I will give a brief overview of the arguments contained in the book for 15/20 minutes or so, at around 7.15 – 7.30 pm.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon http://amzn.eu/d/eERacNy

If are unable to come but would like to purchase the book at a discount, please visit www.routledge.com/9781782206644. The cost should already be discounted by 20%. If it is not then enter the code BSE19 at checkout.

About the book:

Is CBT all it claims to be? The Cognitive Behavioural Tsunami: Managerialism, Politics, and the Corruptions of Science provides a powerful critique of CBT’s understanding of human suffering, as well as the apparent scientific basis underlying it. The book argues that CBT psychology has fetishized measurement to such a degree that it has come to believe that only the countable counts. It suggests that the so-called science of CBT is not just “bad science” but “corrupt science”.

The rise of CBT has been fostered by neoliberalism and the phenomenon of New Public Management. The book not only critiques the science, psychology and philosophy of CBT, but also challenges the managerialist mentality and its hyper-rational understanding of “efficiency”, both of which are commonplace in organizational life today. The book suggests that these are perverse forms of thought, which have been institutionalised by NICE and IAPT and used by them to generate narratives of CBT’s prowess. It claims that CBT is an exercise in symptom reduction which vastly exaggerates the degree to which symptoms are reduced, the durability of the improvement, as well as the numbers of people it helps.

Arguing that CBT is neither the cure nor the scientific treatment it claims to be, the book also serves as a broader cultural critique of the times we live in; a critique which draws on philosophy and politics, on economics and psychology, on sociology and history, and ultimately, on the idea of science itself. It will be of immense interest to psychotherapists, policymakers and those concerned about the excesses of managerialism.