Provocative, insightful and brilliantly written by Professor Wahbie Long, Nation on the Couch explores life in our beloved country through the lens of psychoanalysis.

By focusing on the idea of a ‘political unconscious’, it argues that there is much to be learnt from excavating the inner life of South Africans, which can illuminate the external problems that beset us from all sides. It will challenge readers to rethink the way we see ourselves, why we do what we do and why we are who we are. 

In the twenty-first century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that discovered vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures and conspiracy theorizing?

In Rationality, Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply an irrational species - cavemen out of time fatally cursed with biases, fallacies and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives and set the benchmarks for rationality itself. Instead, he explains, we think in ways that suit the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we have built up over millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, causal inference, and decision-making under uncertainty. These tools are not a standard part of our educational curricula, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book - until now.

Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humour, Rationality will enlighten, inspire and empower.

From 1994 to 2000, when South Africa was a young democracy, the country was stalked by a succession of brutal serial killers. Psychologist Micki Pistorius became the first profiler for the South African Police Service, playing a vital role in identifying and interrogating these killers, as well as training detectives nationally and in other countries. She broke ground with her theory on the origin of serial killers and is considered a trailblazer in her field.

Catch Me a Killer was originally released in 2003 and details the cases she worked on – from the Station Strangler and the Phoenix Cane Killer to Boetie Boer and the Saloon Killer. The book also features legendary detectives such as Piet Byleveld and Suiker Britz, as well as the FBI’s Robert Ressler.

Released alongside a major TV series based on the book, this new edition of Catch Me a Killer includes a new chapter and up-to-date information about some of the cases, such as the parole of Norman Afzal Simons in 2023. This is essential reading for all true crime aficionados.

South Africa has a broad and complex history that has greatly influenced the unique, diverse and democratic country that we know today. One of the many challenges South Africa faces is crime, with those crimes committed by youthful offenders being the most distressing - it is sadly not unusual to hear of youths who have been involved in murder, rape or robbery. In addition, sexual offences among children are occurring more frequently, and the number of child victims of abuse and domestic violence is also on the rise. An added and escalating danger for children is falling prey to ruthless traffickers and being used as sex workers or slaves. Despite specific laws having been promulgated to protect them, many children are still growing up in unforgiving environments that never allow them the opportunity to develop morally according to the prescriptions of a democratic society. Child and youth misbehaviour in South Africa addresses the complex and poorly understood phenomenon of youth misbehaviour. It discusses and analyses various theories on the nature and causes of deviant behaviour, and assesses them critically with regard to their applicability to South Africa. The book presents the relevant legal processes pertaining to young people, and reinforces theoretical explanations with research and real-world examples. The female youth offender is also discussed in depth in this edition. Child and youth misbehaviour in South Africa is aimed at enabling both practitioners and students to address the plight of the South African youth in a constructive way so they can become part of creating a safer South Africa for all its people. Professor Christiaan Bezuidenhout holds a BA (Criminology), BA Honours (Criminology), MA (Criminology), DPhil (Criminology) and an MSc (Criminology and Criminal Justice) from the University of Oxford. He is currently attached to the Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria, where he teaches psychocriminology, criminal justice and contemporary criminology at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

One of the greatest challenges that teachers face when starting out in their careers is learning how to deal with unruly and badly behaved learners so that the rest of the class can get on with the lesson. Teachers often say that they are not paid to discipline learners, they are paid to teach them. However, without discipline there can be little learning.

In The Power of Habit , award-winning New York Times  business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed.

With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation. Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight.

We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr.

We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation's largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.

At its core, The Power of Habit  contains an exhilarating argument: the key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. Habits aren't destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

This book is an original exploration of the importance in the analytical relationship of an attentiveness to lived, conscious and unconscious experiences of time in its three dimensions. It critically discusses the diverse concepts of time implied in different writings in the psychoanalytic tradition, namely those of Freud, Jung, Klein, Lacan, and Winnicott. "Time in Practice" highlights the limitations of spatial metaphors and the emphasis on the past as determinative. It discusses the contributions of modern European philosophical concepts of temporality. Eva Hoffman 's interweaving of time and language in her autobiographical descriptions is shown to be crucially relevant to psychoanalytic practices. Exploring psychoanalytic notions of cure, the book emphasizes the importance of language and imagination in opening out future possibilities for the patient. Lively references to case material illustrate the relevance of its arguments.

Leticia Glocer Fiorini explores the impasses of binary thought and of the essentialist conceptions of women and the feminine. In this trajectory, the author s ongoing dialogue with Freud is connected with one aspect of his way of thinking: multicentered and complex. The text addresses questions relating to love, sexual desire, maternity, beauty and the passing of time and highlights current debates concerning women, the feminine, and sexual difference as well as some controversial topics that have been discussed throughout the history of the psychoanalytic movement. One of the most relevant subjects is the notion of feminine enigma and the conceptions of the feminine as the negative of the masculine, which means going into the nature-nurture debate, as well as into considerations of the feminine seen as the other of the masculine. The author points out that the notion of feminine enigma is a displacement of the enigmas inherent to the origins, to the finite time of life (the inevitability of death) and to sexual difference. The basic misunderstanding stemming from this enigmatic condition is an equation of the feminine to otherness.This text is the result of a line of work that the author has been developing for several years, based on her psychoanalytic training and practice as well as on her reading and interests relating to women and the feminine in other fields: philosophy, epistemology, anthropology and history. It is part of her interest in the modes of thought underlying conceptualizations on women in psychoanalysis. Advances in the relation between psychoanalysis and the feminine involve considering the complex relations around the question of sexual difference and the always problematic construction of sexual identity."

WITH OVER THREE MILLION COPIES SOLD, read the Sunday Times and No.1 New York Times bestselling, record-breaking thriller that everyone is talking about - soon to be a major film. 'The perfect thriller' AJ FINN 'Terrific' - THE TIMES Crime Book of the Month 'Smart, sophisticated suspense' - LEE CHILD 'Compelling' - OBSERVER 'Absolutely brilliant' - STEPHEN FRY 'A totally original psychological mystery' - DAVID BALDACCI 'One of the best thrillers I've read this year' - CARA HUNTER 'The pace and finesse of a master' - BBC CULTURE Alicia Berenson lived a seemingly perfect life until one day six years ago. When she shot her husband in the head five times. Since then she hasn't spoken a single word. It's time to find out why. THE SILENT PATIENT is the gripping must-read thriller of the year - perfect for fans of THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell, BLOOD ORANGE by Harriet Tyce and PLAYING NICE by JP Delaney.

It's a belief that unites the left and right, psychologists and philosophers, writers and historians. It drives the headlines that surround us and the laws that touch our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Dawkins, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings, we're taught, are by nature selfish and governed by self-interest.

Humankind makes a new argument: that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good. By thinking the worst of others, we bring out the worst in our politics and economics too.

In this major book, internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman takes some of the world's most famous studies and events and reframes them, providing a new perspective on the last 200,000 years of human history. From the real-life Lord of the Flies to the Blitz, a Siberian fox farm to an infamous New York murder, Stanley Milgram's Yale shock machine to the Stanford prison experiment, Bregman shows how believing in human kindness and altruism can be a new way to think - and act as the foundation for achieving true change in our society.

It is time for a new view of human nature.

From a leading crisis management expert, a breakthrough book about performance under pressure that will change the way you think about stress Upshift 1. a movement of a variable to a higher level e.g. of performance, growth, frequency. When we experience too much stress, we often feel like shutting down and escaping the source. Neurologists call this 'downshifting', where your thinking shifts from the cognitive and creative areas in the brain to the domains associated with survival. But with too little stress, we become disengaged and apathetic. So what happens in the middle zone - when we experience what psychologists call positive stress - and how can we best make use of it? In Upshift, international thought leader Ben Ramalingam takes readers on an epic journey from early humans' survival of the ice age to present times in our inescapable, pernicious and ever-shifting digital landscape. You will hear remarkable stories from a vast range of backgrounds, including scientists, gamers, performers and artists, athletes and health professionals and everyday people, all of whom carved new routes around perceived barriers using their powers to upshift. Whether discussing how city commuters navigate train cancellations to how astronauts deal with life-threatening incidents, Ramalingam presents a fascinating argument that we all have the power to innovate, whether or not we identify ourselves as creative or extraordinary. In a runaway world that is an engine for perpetual crisis, Upshift is not only an essential toolkit for survival, it is a roadmap for positive, and potentially life-changing transformation and influence. You don't have to shut down - you can upshift.

The common, existing distance between children and adults is the basis of this work, which has been addressed in many literary and cultural works throughout history. Not being able to remember how we, now adults, thought as children -like their spontaneity or magic and omnipotent form of thinking- would leave children completely isolated, like a helpless immigrant in a foreign land. This book attempts to comprehend, how parents' misunderstanding, can induce loneliness and helplessness in children, that with time will become traumatic, and will remain unconsciously present in all of us forever. It will continue to repeat using infantile emotions, children form of thinking, and experiencing as well, loneliness, anxiety, depression, fears and the chronic need of finding a 'rescuer', in the form of power, fame, drugs, money, religion, and so on. This very innovative approach to the understanding of children's segregation and its repercussion on adult's emotional life, will be of invaluable interest to all practicing psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and parents included.

Beneath the surface we are all connected . . . 'An authentically soothing, powerful, thought-provoker.' MATT HAIG 'On Connection is medicine for these wounded times.' MAX PORTER 'On Connection came to me when I needed it most, and reminded me that the links we have to places, people, words, ourselves, are what keep us alive.' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS This is a book about connection. About how immersing ourselves in creativity can help us cultivate greater self-awareness and bring us closer to each other. Drawing on two decades of experience as a writer and performer, Kae Tempest champions the role of creativity - in whatever form we choose to practice it - as an act of love, helping us establish a deeper relationship to our true selves, and to others and the world we live in. Honest, hopeful and written with piercing clarity, On Connection is an inspiring personal meditation that will transform the way you see the world. 'Persuasive and profound.' OBSERVER 'Tempest's prose is crisp and thoughtful.' NEW STATESMAN

In the twenty-first century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that discovered vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures and conspiracy theorizing?

In Rationality, Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply an irrational species - cavemen out of time fatally cursed with biases, fallacies and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives and set the benchmarks for rationality itself. Instead, he explains, we think in ways that suit the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we have built up over millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, causal inference, and decision-making under uncertainty. These tools are not a standard part of our educational curricula, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book - until now.

Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humour, Rationality will enlighten, inspire and empower.

Utilizing extensive research in economics, psychology, political science, neuroscience and evolutionary theory, Ananish Chaudhuri provides a critical perspective on the role of cognitive biases in decision-making during the Covid-19 pandemic. The extensive use of, and support for, stringent social distancing measures in particular is explored in depth. Nudged into Lockdown? provides clear explanations of complex scientific information regarding Covid-19, vaccines, and policy responses, to highlight issues at the center of policy-making during the pandemic. With a comprehensive overview of the policy debates around Covid-19, the book offers an alternative thought-provoking perspective on the topic, as well as suggestions for policy-making during future pandemics and other crises. It further highlights applications of a range of concepts from heuristics and biases literature, including priming, framing, anchoring, Prospect Theory, and loss aversion. Providing directions for future research in the area, this book will be an invigorating read for established academics, as well as postgraduate students looking to undertake research in Covid-19 related decision-making. It will also be a critical read for economics, political science, and public policy scholars seeking a deeper understanding of the topic.

Being sane has long been defined simply as that bland and nebulous state of not being mentally ill. While writings on madness fill entire libraries, until now no one has thought to engage exclusively with the idea of sanity.

In a society governed by indulgence and excess, madness is the state of mind we identify with most keenly. Though ultimately destructive, it is often credited as the wellspring of genius, individuality, and self-expression. Sanity, on the other hand, confounds us. One of the world's most respected psychoanalysts and original thinkers, Adam Phillips redresses this historical imbalance. He strips our lives back to essentials, focusing on how we--as human beings, parents, lovers, as people to whom work matters--can make space for a sane and well-balanced attitude to living. In a world saturated by tales of dysfunction and suffering, he offers a way forward that is as down-to-earth and realistic as it is uplifting and hopeful.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Leading scholar Tom R. Tyler provides a timely and engaging introduction to the field of law and psychology. This Advanced Introduction outlines the main areas of research, their relevance to law and the way that psychological findings have shaped - or failed to shape - the corresponding areas of law. Key features include: broad coverage of the key topics in the field accessible, non-technical presentation of research findings focus on the relevance of psychological theories to topics in law emphasis on the institutional realities within which law functions discussion of the problems of bringing research findings into the legal system. Presenting an informative overview of this rapidly developing area, the Advanced Introduction to Law and Psychology will be a key resource for students and scholars of law, psychology and the social sciences. It will also be of benefit to psychologists and legal practitioners.

As 95 per cent of our brain activity carries on at a subconscious level, we're not always aware of why we think what we think and do the things we do. Sometimes these subconscious wirings can make us think or act in ways that are not optimal for our happiness - they can bring out the illogical in us all. How Your Brain Is Wireddraws on recent breakthroughs in our understanding of how the brain really works, empowering the reader to take control over their own behaviour. Full of insight and practical advice, it equips you with a toolkit of simple changes you can put into action to: reduce conflict and anxiety achieve a positive mindset make better decisions have more fun and reach new goals. This book is about rewiring your attitudes; re-seeing yourself and your choices. It reveals something rather magical: how tiny tweaks to your behaviour can be all you need to deliver a big, sometimes thrilling, reboot to your life.

This text provides an accurate, comprehensive, and contemporary description of applied behavior analysis in order to help readers acquire fundamental knowledge and skills Applied Behavior Analysis provides a comprehensive, in-depth discussion of the field, offering a complete description of the principles and procedures for changing and analyzing socially important behavior. The 3rd Edition features coverage of advances in all three interrelated domains of the sciences of behavior-theoretical, basic research, and applied research-and two new chapters, Equivalence-based Instruction (Ch. 19) and Engineering Emergent Learning with Nonequivalence Relations (Ch. 20). It also includes updated and new content on topics such as negative reinforcement (Ch. 12), motivation (Ch. 16), verbal behavior (Ch. 18), functional behavioral assessment (Ch. 27), and ethics (Ch. 31). The content of the text is now connected to the BCBA (R) and BCABA (R) Behavior Analyst Task List, 5th Edition.

Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior? Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing political prisoners? Betraying their colleagues to the secret police? Why do cycles of revenge so often escalate?
Baumeister casts new light on these issues as he examines the gap between the victim's viewpoint and that of the perpetrator, and also the roots of evil behavior, from egotism and revenge to idealism and sadism. A fascinating study of one of humankind's oldest problems, "Evil" has profound implications for the way we conduct our lives and govern our society.

Life Studies in Psychoanalysis consists of four psychoanalytic studies each representing a patient's course of treatment over several years. These studies demonstrate how love, in an array of forms, is refracted through the process of psychoanalysis, which unfolds over time and reveals the complexities of human desire. The cases presented here cover topics including repressed homosexuality, a taboo desire for a sibling, obsession with a fantasy, an Oedipus complex, and transferences that become an initial obstacle to treatment. Dr. Ahron Friedberg offers professionals techniques for encouraging patients to remain in treatment when they become resistant, demoralized, or feel like they have hit a wall. As the studies proceed, each renders the non-linear progress of treatment, as layer upon layer of a patient's issues are brought to light and the patient slowly, often reluctantly, comes to terms with these issues. Life Studies in Psychoanalysis will be of great interest to psychoanalysts in practice and in training, psychoanalytic psychotherapists and readers looking for insight into the analytic process.

Keep calm, be skillful--and take control! Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is one of the most popular--and most effective--treatments for mental health conditions that result from out-of-control emotions. Combining elements of Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Eastern mindfulness practice, DBT was initially used as a powerful treatment to address the suffering associated with borderline personality disorder. It has since proven to have positive effects on many other mental health conditions and is frequently found in non-clinical settings, such as schools. Whether you struggle with depression, anger, phobias, disordered eating, or want to have a better understanding of emotions and how to focus and calm your mind, DBT practice serves the needs of those facing anything from regular life challenges to severe psychological distress. Written in a no-jargon, friendly style by two of Harvard Medical School's finest, DBT For Dummies shows how DBT can teach new ways not just to reverse, but to actively take control of self-destructive behaviors and negative thought patterns, allowing you to transform a life of struggle into one full of promise and meaning. Used properly and persistently, the skills and strategies in this book will change your life: when you can better regulate emotions, interact effectively with people, deal with stressful situations, and use mindfulness on a daily basis, it's easier to appreciate what's good in yourself and the world, and then act accordingly. In reading this book, you will: Understand DBT theory Learn more adaptive ways to control your emotions Improve the quality of your relationships Deal better with uncertainty Many of life's problems are not insurmountable even if they appear to be. Life can get better, if you are willing to live it differently. Get DBT For Dummies and discover the proven methods that will let you take back control--and build a brighter, more capable, and promising future!