POWER GAMES

Power games involve the struggle for psychological )

1. Psychologist Oliver James has analysed the behaviour of George W Bush

“Barbara Bush is described by her closest intimates as prone to ‘withering stares’ and ‘sharply crystalline’ retorts.

“She is also extremely tough.

“When he was seven, Bush’s younger sister, Robin, died of leukaemia and several independent witnesses say he was very upset by this loss.

“Barbara claims its effect was exaggerated but nobody could accuse her of overreacting: the day after the funeral, she and her husband were on the golf course.”

2. According to UK psychologist Oliver James:

“The closer a nation approximates to the American model … the greater the rate of mental illness amongst its citizens”.

According to Oliver James, Americanism means, for example:

1. Women rejecting the role of the mother.

2. Television corrupting people.

3. Children spending too much time at school.

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4. “Christmas time,” explains Oliver James, “is a fixed ritual setting which triggers historic enmities like nothing else.

“The culmination of all these; in the form of present-giving, the pecking order at the table, who does the washing-up, means the shit really hits the fan at this time of year.

“People revert back to being a child without realising it.”

To avoid the usual tensions … Oliver James suggests that we identify what role we occupy in our family, then do the exact opposite.

(Jingle hell: Stories from those who avoid christmas.)

5. Oliver James is in favour of ‘love bombing’ for children.

He argues that feeling loved is a better remedy than dishing out rules and punishment.

“In fact, feeling loved is far more important for childhood discipline than rule-making and punishment.

“At the heart of the matter is that a sense of being satisfied only comes from having demands met – needy, aggressive behaviour comes from feeling dissatisfied.”

(Love bombing kids to get happy results thetelegraph.com.au)