https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Smail_(psychologist)
Selected works
- The Treatment of Mental Illness – Science, Faith and the Therapeutic Personality. University of London Press, 1969.
- Psychotherapy: A Personal Approach. [1978] Dent, 1982 (revised). ISBN 978-0-460-02194-4
- Illusion and Reality – The Meaning of Anxiety. [1984] Constable, 1997 (revised). ISBN 978-0-460-02278-1
- Taking Care – An Alternative to Therapy. [1987] Constable, 1998. ISBN 978-0-09-477420-9
- The Origins of Unhappiness – A New Understanding of Personal Distress. [1993] Constable, 1999 (revised). ISBN 978-0-09-479340-8
- How to Survive Without Psychotherapy. [1996] Constable, 1998 (revised). ISBN 978-0-09-478480-2
- The Nature of Unhappiness. Robinson, 2001. ISBN 1-84119-350-X
- Why Therapy Doesn't Work. Robinson, 2001. ISBN 978-1-84119-350-2
- Power, Interest and Psychology – Elements of a Social Materialist Understanding of Distress. PCCS Books, 2005. ISBN 978-1-898059-71-4
Impact
Smail's work and lectures have been influential in the theory and practice of community psychology, with a focus on 'outsight' rather than 'insight', ideas taken up since his death by The Midlands Psychology Group: "Psychology needs to stop looking inside the head of each troubled individual that seeks its help and turn its gaze outwards. The causes of distress are not to be found in faulty or dysfunctional brains, but in the often toxic family circumstances, community settings, the workplace and the wider social world, with all its inequalities, injustices and environmental breakdown."[7]
