'Sedated' by James Davies (PhD Oxon, UKCP)

Drawing on his latest book, Sedated, James Davies explores why our mental health sector is failing so many, and how we might put it right again. Through interviews, stories and original research he traces how, since the 1980s, mental health policy has too often served the neoliberal economic agenda rather than clinical need. The result has been an overly medicalised system that commodifies, stigmatises, depoliticises and pathologises emotional distress, leading to poor outcomes, public disillusionment and the repeated downplaying of the systemic drivers of distress.

By amplifying the voices of clinicians, activists, service users, and academics I show how an entirely new approach is required; one that places people and communities at its heart rather than vested interests and outdated reductive and individualising models of distress.

This event will be of use to therapeutic practitioners and trainees, but is also open to non-professionals.

About the Presenter:

James Davies, (PhD Oxon; UKCP) is an Associate Professor in Psychology and Medical Anthropology at the University of Roehampton, London. He qualified as a psychotherapist in 2006 and has practiced in multiple settings, including the NHS. He is co-founder of the Beyond Pills All Party Parliamentary Group, and author of the bestselling books, 'Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm than Good' and 'Sedated: how capitalism caused our mental health crisis'.