Lecture, 6th April: The Cognitive Behavioural Tsunami Managerialism, Politics and the Corruptions of Science

The IGA London is hosting this lecture/discussion event on Saturday, April 6:

Farhad Dalal will draw on material from his book to critique the psychology and philosophy of CBT and detail some of the corruptions of science that are used to manufacture the mythologies that surround and sustain CBT.

Is CBT all it claims to be? The book is a 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 book not only critiques the science, psychology and philosophy of CBT, it also challenges the managerialist mentality and its hyper-rational understanding of “efficiency”, both of which are commonplace in organizational life today. Suggesting that these are perverse forms of thought which have been institutionalized by NICE and IAPT to generate a narrative to make it appear that all is well in the world of CBT. In contrast, the book 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 all psychotherapists in practice as well as to policymakers in a range of different settings.

On Amazon at http://amzn.eu/d/eERacNy