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Controversial and powerful - a shocking indictment of the pseudo-science at the heart of modern psychiatry

About the Author

James Davies is a psychological therapist who lectures in psychology and social anthropology. He holds a doctorate in medical anthropology from the University of Oxford and has worked for the NHS and the mental health charity Mind.

Reviews

[Cracked] should be read by every doctor ... by everyone in politics and the media, not to mention any concerned citizen.
*Mail on Sunday*

Chilling reading
*Guardian*

Davies's book is a potent polemic
*Sunday Times*

If, in the world of psychiatry, the DSM is Holy Scripture, Cracked is set to become a heretical text.
*The Times Magazine*

A profoundly disturbing look at the world of Big Pharma ... This is an important book for anyone who has an interest in mental health.
*Daily Mail*

Builds a disturbing picture of a profession that is in thrall to pharmaceutical companies
*BBC Focus*

An eye-opening and persuasive work
*Publishers Weekly*

[A] diligent study
*Financial Times*

A well-written book ... a positive contribution to the debate about whether psychiatry can become a more open practice.
*Therapy Today*

Disturbing and uncompromising
*Kirkus Reviews*

A very controversial, fascinating and powerful read ... full of balanced and reasonable arguments. I would strongly urge all mental health professionals, those in the caring professions as well anybody interested in mental health to read this book.
*The Psychologist*

An engrossing book, full of interviews with patients and professionals
*GP Magazine*

I couldn't put the book down. It is totally engaging, as controversial as it is compelling, and as erudite as it is enjoyable ... The book deserves to be a bestseller and should be read by every mental health professional
*International Review of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis*

I, personally, applaud a work that can shine a light into the murky corners of dubious practice'
*Sitegeist*

This is an excellent book....[it] careens, almost literally, from one psychiatric outrage to the next ... I strongly recommend this book.
*Behaviourism and Mental Health*

This thought-provoking book will make people think twice before sitting on a psychiatrist's couch or filling a prescription
*Booklist*

This is a very well-written book - intellectually sound, but written in an accessible way ... It should be read by all mental health professionals, by all politicians and policy makers charged with shaping future mental health provision'
*Social Justice Solutions*

You will be illuminated and often shocked and certainly made to think more about how you view the children in your care. Every teacher should read it
*International School Magazine*

A practicing psychological therapist adds to the fusillade against contemporary psychiatry with this multipronged attack. Relying on numerous studies and interviews with American and British leaders in the field-including Dr. Robert Spitzer, the primary editor of the DSM-III-Davies (The Importance of Suffering) lambasts the nonexistence of empirical biological evidence behind modern nosology, explaining that in lieu of hard data, "professional agreement, consensus, and, in the event of continued disagreement, majority opinion" ends up defining the disorders with which people are diagnosed and then for which they are medicated. On the pharmaceutical front, Davies takes aim at Big Pharma's tendency to "cherry pick" positive clinical trial data to suit its needs. The results are drugs whose curative efficacy is questionable and which sometimes come with serious side effects (such as the "emotional blunting" that occurs in about half of all Prozac users). Further undermining the integrity of the psychiatric profession is the fact that many doctors, having received grants and/or speaking and consulting fees from Big Pharma companies, are essentially prescribing from within the deep pockets of their benefactors. The consequences for patients and the profession are obvious. An eye-opening and persuasive work. Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency (U.K.). (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.