Additional information
| Author | Julie Smith |
|---|
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?
By Julie Smith (2022)
What the internet says
Aggregated insights from reviews and discussions across the web.
Overall reception: Mixed reception
Dr. Julie Smith's 'Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?' has achieved massive commercial success with over 1 million copies sold worldwide and spent over 100 weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list. The book receives generally positive reception (3.87/5 on Goodreads with 42,627 ratings), particularly praised for making mental health concepts accessible to general audiences. Reviewers consistently note that the book functions as a practical 'mental health toolbox' with bite-sized chapters covering anxiety, depression, motivation, grief, and self-doubt, designed to be read non-sequentially based on immediate needs.
However, reception is notably divided based on readers' prior exposure to mental health content. Those new to psychology and self-help find the book revelatory and empowering, appreciating its straightforward explanations and actionable tools. More experienced readers in mental health literature frequently criticize the content as basic, repetitive, and lacking depth, with multiple reviewers noting they had 'heard all this before.' The book's strength appears to be its accessibility and practical format rather than groundbreaking insights, with the author's empathetic, non-judgmental tone consistently praised even by those who found the content familiar.
Critics appreciate that Dr. Smith avoids toxic positivity and acknowledges that feelings cannot simply be 'stopped,' instead teaching readers to understand and work with their emotions. The book's structure—with summary bullet points at the end of each short chapter and sections organized by specific challenges—makes it function well as a reference guide. The audiobook narrated by the author herself receives particular praise for its warm, conversational delivery.
What readers loved
- Highly accessible for beginners with no background in psychology or mental health, presenting complex concepts in simple, easy-to-understand language
- Practical 'toolbox' approach with actionable techniques rather than just theory, including specific exercises and coping strategies readers can implement immediately
- Non-sequential structure allows readers to skip directly to chapters addressing their current needs (anxiety, grief, motivation, etc.) without reading cover-to-cover
- Avoids toxic positivity and overly optimistic self-help clichés; acknowledges that negative feelings are valid and teaches working with emotions rather than suppressing them
- Empathetic, warm, and non-judgmental tone that makes readers feel understood rather than criticized
- Short, digestible chapters with summary bullet points make information easy to retain and reference later
- Emphasizes self-compassion as a resilience tool rather than self-criticism, with the memorable line 'if you want a man to get up off the ground, you have to stop beating him'
Common critiques
- Content is basic and repetitive for readers already familiar with cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, or self-help literature—multiple reviewers noted learning nothing new
- Lacks depth and scientific detail; often only scratches the surface of important topics without exploring them thoroughly
- Significant repetition of concepts like exercise, gratitude lists, and eating well across multiple chapters
- The title is misleading—many readers felt 'somebody HAS told me this before' as the advice is mainstream and widely available
- Some chapters feel too short, reading like summaries that still include bullet-point summaries at the end, creating redundancy
Reviews
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