Psychology

What if your mind isn’t broken - just misunderstood?

In Your Normal Mind, psychologist John Hannan flips the script on mental health. Instead of treating anxiety, low mood, and overthinking as “disorders,” he shows how they’re normal functions of an ancient survival system still running on Stone Age code. The result is a mind that overreacts, panics in safe situations, obsesses over status, and feels lonely even when connected - all perfectly logical once you understand evolution’s hidden rules.

Drawing on decades of clinical work in Defence, remote communities, and trauma recovery, Hannan translates complex science into straightforward, actionable strategies. Using clear models -from the “smoke alarm brain” to the “elephant and rider” - he teaches how to:

• Decode why fear, anger, and shame overpower logic
• Retrain oversensitive systems through controlled exposure and feedback
• Use evolutionary insights to manage emotions and rebuild belonging and purpose

Each chapter moves from theory to field-tested insight, with practical guidance for applying it. The voice is grounded, skeptical of jargon, and deeply humane - informed by real-world crisis work where getting it right meant saving lives.

This isn’t a pep talk or pop psychology. It’s evolution explained, decoded, and repurposed - so you can stop fighting your normal mind and start training it.

Perfect for people who want truth, not sympathy, Your Normal Mind belongs on the same shelf as Outlive, Dopamine Nation, Lost Connections, and The Anxious Generation.

At the centre of any caring role is listening attentively to the concerns, stories and needs of others. But to develop the skills of listening, learning, caring and counselling, you need support and training. Listening, Learning, Caring and Counselling (LLCC)is the comprehensive guide, full of ideas and techniques, to fill that role. It is not a book about fundamental counselling skills.Instead, Author Dr. Cate Howell focuses on how professionals can assist clients as they work through the issues they commonly present with - such as low mood, relationship issues, loss and grief. A number of different therapies and their related techniques are described and synthesized into the LLCC approach, while case-studies, skills and tips for everyday practice make it a practical and user-friendly resource. LLCC is essential reading for counsellors, support workers, case workers, medical practitioners, health professionals, emergency workers and those in the fields of human resources and life coaching.

A comprehensive guide to the reasons behind burnout, with effective, practical ways to manage and prevent burnout to create a more balanced future. Burnout is a phenomenon that can happen to anyone, yet it is most often found in high-pressured workplaces, especially those where promotions and target achievement are valued. In this timely book, clinical psychologist Mike McKinney takes an informed look at the features of burnout, why and how burnout happens, and the signs it might be about to strike. After noticing an increase in patients struggling with burnout in their work roles, McKinney used his extensive experience to gain a better understanding behind the reasons for this growth. What he found was that there are common underlying personality traits in an individual that can result in an increased vulnerability towards the development of burnout. While workplace changes are often touted as the answer to burnout, the author draws on his clinical experience over more than 25 years to show the reader what is within their power to change about themselves, so they can create greater resilience to burnout and a better balance in life. He deftly demonstrates how particular personality traits can contribute towards burnout, such as:

• the quest for perfection
• fear of failure
• beliefs around personal performance
• having an ‘all-or-nothing’ approach
• holding impossibly high personal expectations.

The author then provides options and answers, along with suggestions for positive changes that can be sustained, and offers ways to help the reader consider a wider (and possibly new) purpose in life that is underpinned by ways to enhance resilience. Beating Burnout is an insightful, practical book for professionals and anyone experiencing burnout, as well as those who would like to help someone in burnout.