Have you ever wondered what is really wrong with us South Africans, as a nation?
We have sporadic flare ups of xenophobia, we carry the burden of being the most unequal society in the world, our race relations are always at teetering point, and men rape, abuse, and kill women almost every day.
Well, wonder no more.
Psychologist Wahbie Long seeks to find the root cause of our social ills.
In his latest book titled Nation on the Couch, he puts the entire nation on the couch of his consulting room and delves inside our minds.
Page upon page, Long elegantly confronts and shines the spotlight on our shame, envy, impasse, and hope, which have come to define our psyche as a nation.
Now, let me give credit to Long for being brave and doing what his colleagues have feared to do in the democratic dispensation.
With this book he manages to show that psychologists do not have to confine themselves in consulting rooms, but can immerse themselves in socioeconomic and political issues faced by patients in order to fully understand their psyche.
If ever there are still questions surrounding the importance of psychology in helping build this country, then this book is proof enough that psychologists can help us as a nation in dealing with our challenges.
Nation on the Couch is an important read for all South Africans of all colours, and it is a book that will make us reckon with who we are, as people.
Perusing through the pages of this book, I find myself seeing my own anger and that of my peers.
We, the youth carry pains and anger in our troubled hearts, bcause we have to consistently fight against economic apartheid and results of unequal of society.
It is us, the current generation- black, white, Indians, and Coloured, who are haunted by the legacy of apartheid.
Nation on the Couch will save our thinking and help us find the peace we require as a nation.
I think the only bummer for me is the fact that this is a heavy read- layered with heavy terminologies that an average person might struggle to easily comprehend.
Besides that, Nation on the Couch is a courageous contribution to our nation-building project.