‘Book’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 4

Self-Help is a massive and growing industry. Are these books really selling the secrets to happiness, thinness and wealth? Or are they making profits from the comforting illusion that these things are really for sale?

What should we be asking about the social, cultural, historical and evolutionary contexts in which compromised mental health arises and how it is compounded? Has humanity lost its way somewhere? Is it heading for its own imminent destruction via anthropogenic climate change, exhaustion of planetary resources and geopolitical conflict? Professor Colin Feltham is taking the dark view seriously. Here, he shares a precis of his new book, “What’s Wrong With us? The Anthropathology Thesis”.

A recent AP report on the benefits of taking a break from technology makes me reflect on the pace of my own current work, as well as on the pressures of the business environment, in which some senior managers try to stay plugged in 365 days of the year.