The psychopathology of everyday nationalism

Psychotherapy teaches us that when people are attracted to visions of a perfect future and then become aggressive towards people who do not buy into their fantasy, they are in denial about some aspect of themselves.  So what, therefore, might a psychological understanding of the appeal of Scottish nationalism look like?

This article by psychologist and psychotherapist Jock Encombe, first published in the week leading up to the 2014 Scottish referendum, is just as relevant to the heat and fury of what passes for Scottish political debate in the 2015 UK general election campaign.   As new focus group research indicates that supporters of the SNP regard any discussion of policy as ‘white noise’, Wake Up Scotland is republishing this ‘psychopathology of nationalism’ – and interestingly we discover from our statistics that many of you have beaten us to it. Over to Jock Encombe.

Is David Cameron up to the job of Prime Minister?

The general election is just two weeks away. Will Scotland return a record number of SNP MPs to Westminster and what would that mean for the rest of the UK and the other political parties? As the Scottish campaign enters its final phase it feels in many ways to be a rerun of last year’s referendum. Jackie Kemp considers the performance of the Prime Minister who almost lost the Union and asks if he is really up to the job.