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Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
@JDaviesPhD
Professor of Psychology & Medical Anthropology (Ph.D @UniofOxford). Psychodynamic/Humanistic Psychotherapist (UKCP). Previous NHS. - Dad-Husband-Writer
Uni of Roehampton, London
pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/pers…
Joined May 2019
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jun 3, 2021
    Hi folks, I'm very proud to say that my book, Sedated, is released today! I've done everything within my power to write a book worthy of your time - one that illuminates via interviews, stories & research why our mental health sector is broken & how we may put it right again. 1/5
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Dec 18, 2022
    During a very dark period, what was the best thing you ever did for your mental health?
    16M
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jan 12, 2025
    During a very dark period, what was the best thing you ever did for your mental health?
    7.3M
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jun 24, 2023
    'Resilience' is a sneaky neoliberal trope. It frames, as a psychological virtue, painful endurance of circumstances from which others benefit at your expense.
    676K
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Aug 25, 2024
    What helped you through a period of severe mental/emotional distress, and was not a drug, a therapist, or an act of consumption?
    2.4M
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Nov 12, 2022
    What helped you through a period of severe mental/emotional distress, and was not a drug, a therapist, or an act of consumption?
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Sep 7, 2022
    My most used psych-diagnoses would be: Social suffering Situational distress Sane reaction (to e.g. poverty, abuse, overwork, inequality) Complex trauma Meaninglessness Existential dread [of varying kinds] Loneliness Unmet needs Just surviving syndrome Shame they don't exist.
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jan 1, 2025
    ‘Capitalism doesn’t want your inner life to be completely fixed- it is happy for you to be a functional depressive or a functional alcoholic, because in both instances you are still a functional consumer’ #Sedated 👇
    187K
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jun 10, 2023
    My most used psych-diagnoses would be: Social suffering Situational distress Sane reaction (to e.g. poverty, abuse, overwork, inequality) Complex trauma Meaninglessness Existential dread [of varying kinds] Loneliness Unmet needs Just surviving syndrome Shame they don't exist.
    163K
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jul 25, 2022
    "Many psychiatrists & psychologists refuse to entertain the idea that society as a whole may be lacking in sanity. They hold that the problem of mental health [is to do with].. ‘unadjusted’ individuals, and not [with] a possible unadjustment of the culture itself.” - Erich Fromm
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jun 3, 2023
    The greatest threats to mental health: poverty inequality social injustice abuse trauma discrimination (of all kinds) neoliberalism poor relationships, diet, exercise social exclusion materialism prejudice loneliness iatrogenesis individualism meaninglessness What did I miss?
    336K
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Jun 4, 2022
    Since the 1980s we've been told that emotional suffering is rooted in untreated 'mental disorders' rather than in unmet social/psychological/relational needs. In no other period has this historically outlying belief so dominated, nor has mental health disability so increased.
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    May 28, 2023
    How often it is that a young person’s pain (self-harm; eating problems) is a desperate attack, via the self, on a dysfunctional family, idea, school or wider system; a plea for systemic change. But we rarely see it like that - instead we pathologise them & treat *their* disorder.
    184K
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    Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭
    @JDaviesPhD
    Feb 5, 2023
    An old therapist friend once told me that suicide isn't born of the need to end one’s life, but to end/reform the particular life & circumstances that one is now living. I've reminded many people of this crucial distinction when in the depths of despair - it's been very helpful.
    99K