Oliver James

Articles

Contented Dementia

Selfish Capitalist

Affluenza

They F*** You Up

Britain on the Couch

Celebrity Profiles

Recession is a healer
09/11/2009, Times
The implosion of the global financial system was as unexpected and rapid as the collapse of the Soviet Union. The good news is that we may be about to feel as liberated from oppression as the swarming crowds who celebrated in the eastern bloc in 1989.

We have a constant hunger for more but curbing our desires might make us happier
15/10/2008, Guardian
Oliver James analyses the public's answers to credit crunch questions

A psychological diagnosis of the banking crisis
18/09/2008, The Guardian
A study of 26 successful New York brokers from 2000 suggests they are distinctly flaky.

Top 10 tips to beat back-to-work blues
01/09/2008, The Times
The first weeks back at work after a summer break can be the most stressful of the year. But by rediscovering what is truly important in your life, you can have that contented holiday feeling all year round.

Britons' homes 'a reflection their self-worth'
31/03/2008, The Times
Pretty well all of us in the top two thirds of British earners conflate the status of our home with our self-worth. The home's architectural merits, its size, location and décor feel like individual personality traits.

Psychologist's View
01/2007 - 06/2007, Psychologies

Blind feminism has hurt our children
15/02/2007, The Times
Sure Start is typical of Labour's failures

How to be a real beauty
03/02/2007, The Times
Oliver James argues that Russian and Danish women are beautiful because they are not hung up about how others see them. And we ask two who should know...

The sickest show on TV?
28/01/2007, The Independent
Deserving cases beg for money, humiliated by a bunch of image-conscious whizz kids... Can television stoop any lower?

Infected by Affluenza
24/01/2007, The Guardian
Blair's encouragement of free market capitalism has boosted spiralling levels of British mental illness

On the money
01/01/2006, The Guardian
Americans and Britons have the highest rates of mental illness. But why? An obsession with wealth has led to an 'Affluenza' epidemic, says Oliver James

New Labour's love of money is the root of all our troubles
23/10/2006, The Guardian
The Blatcherites' biggest crime is the spreading of the affluenza virus that has led to an epidemic of depression across Britain

Money, possessions, appearances: it's an illness
12/06/2007, The Times
The psychologist and author blames 'affluenza' - the virus of superficial values - for stress, anxiety and unhappiness among high earners

Workaholic consumerism is now a treadmill and a curse
02/05/2006, The Guardian
Long working hours and status consumption have the English-speaking world in their grip. They are the bane of all of us

Moving the Goalposts
03-04/2003, Resurgence
Chasing that ephemeral and elusive state of 'happiness'

Curse of Comparison
10/1997, Prospect Magazine
Why are so many people unhappy, when we live in a period of unprecedented affluence? An obsessive preoccupation with comparing ourselves to others is to blame. We have unrealistic expectations, which leave us permanently dissatisfied, prone to depression and aggression