unpublished manuscript

David Smail

Critical Psychology from PCCS Books

Where do you find an independent publisher prepared to put ideas above profit? Against all the 21st century odds, Craig Newnes and Guy Holmes appear to have found the answer: PCCS Books, based at Llangarron, Ross-on-Wye, England (www.pccs-books.co.uk). Newnes and Holmes are the editors of a 'critical psychology' series of eight books (in which they also pop up here and there as writers) which appear in print not because of their obvious marketability or conformity to academic trends but because they have something important to say about the dominant myths of psychiatry and psychology in these unenlightened times.

There is not space here to do justice to all eight books. They are all interesting. Some (e.g. This is Madness and This is Madness Too) cover a range of perspectives on the shortcomings of psychiatry, particularly but not solely in Britain; some (e.g. Beyond Help, The Gene Illusion, Violence in Society) focus in much finer detail on specific issues. Beyond Help is one of the most convincing and informed-and informing- attacks on commercial psychology that I know, while The Gene Illusion is a magnificently painstaking academic demolition job on the current genetic orthodoxy in psychiatry and psychology. Violence in Society takes an uncompromising and clear-sighted environmentalist stance on 'criminality'. Two of the series-Personality as Art and Spirituality and Psychotherapy-explore approaches to psychology that challenge the orthodoxy. Terry Lynch's Beyond Prozac-a remorseless critique of drug- and biology-based psychiatry combined with a profoundly humane account of emotional distress-is in my opinion far and away the best book of its kind to have been published anywhere so far. The books are by no means uniform-the edited volumes in particular may provoke disagreement as well as assent-but what they do have in common is a passionate honesty that more than compensates for any rough edges.

While it's obvious that vanishingly few publishers publish books like this any more, there is perhaps still some hope that this doesn't mean that there is no market for them. It may of course be that books are bought in commercially viable numbers only by people seeking to establish or maintain their perch in a precarious academic or professional world, as well no doubt as by those caught in the ideological webs of modern marketing. But in any case: from those of us still struggling to hang on to our view of the emperor's nakedness, heartfelt thanks to the publisher and editors of this series for helping to keep us sane.

  • This is Madness: A critical look at psychiatry and the future mental health services. Edited by Craig Newnes, Guy Holmes and Cailzie Dunn. 1999. ISBN 1 898059 25X. £15.20

  • This is Madness Too: Critical perspectives on mental health services. Edited by Craig Newnes, Guy Holmes and Cailzie Dunn. 2001. ISBN 1 898059 37 3. £13.30

  • Personality as Art: Artistic approaches in psychology. Peter Chadwick. 1999. ISBN 1 898059 35 7. £17.10

  • Beyond Help: A consumers' guide to psychology. Susan Hansen, Alec McHoul and Mark Rapley. 2003. ISBN 1 898059 54 3. £14.25

  • Spirituality and Psychotherapy Edited by Simon King-Spooner and Craig Newnes. 2001. ISBN 1 898059 39 X. £14.25

  • The Gene Illusion: Genetic research in psychiatry and psychology under the microscope. Jay Joseph. 2003. ISBN 1 898059 47 0. £17.10

  • Violence and Society: Making sense of madness and badness. Elie Godsi. 2004. ISBN 1 898059 62 4. £16.15

  • Beyond Prozac: Healing mental distress. Dr Terry Lynch. 2004. ISBN 1 898059 63 2. £12.35 [Terry Lynch is an Irish GP and psychotherapist whose book Beyond Prozac, originally published in Ireland in 2001 but now available (2004) through PCCS Books, is in my opinion far and away the best of its kind so far. An unflagging and remorseless critic of drug- and biology-based psychiatry, Terry Lynch uses his extensive experience as a doctor and therapist to demonstrate how a balanced approach to emotional distress of all kinds - including the most severe - should look. His approach is deeply humane, utterly without pomposity or conceit, and yet informing it is a razor-sharp critical mind and, in view of his uncompromising rejection of the medical establishment, not a little courage. This book cannot in my view be recommended too highly; every GP in the land should read it, and many sufferers and survivors in and of the psychiatric system will draw comfort from it. ]