Britain on the couch

IN the wake of the horrific events in Arkansas, it once again seems as if everyone is qualified to psychoanalyse the two adolescents and understand their every motivation. This forms a convenient channel through which they can expound their own theories about the collapse of society.

NOW AND THEN: A Memoir From Coney Island to Here by Joseph Heller, Simon & Schuster pounds 16.99

No pain, no gain, argue the advocates of bedroom role-play. Michael Arditti begs to differ

Kim Newman gets on the couch with a Victorian shrink

THE BEAST IN THE NURSERY by Adam Phillips, Faber pounds 14.99

"Morning doctor"

A pleasant feature of the pre-club itinerary, Freud is a great venue for people-watching, but if you want to sit down before 9pm, think again

Britain on the Couch by Oliver James Century, pounds 16.99 Staying Sane by Raj Persaud Metro, pounds 17.99; Michael Church diagnoses the media shrinks who make a career from the state of our souls

Dr Freud: a life by Paul Ferris Sinclair-Stevenson, pounds 20 Frank McLynn defends a guru who never promised miracle cures for his patients

DR FREUD: A Life by Paul Ferris Sinclair-Stevenson pounds 20

Small children, some as young as three and four, are now being given daily sessions of psychoanalysis. Over the top? Certainly not, say the analysts. Wendy Wallace reports on children who talk quite naturally about all sorts of things that they wouldn't mention a few years later.

Hans Eysenck has been the most influential British psychologist of the last few decades. Through his many articles and books he achieved world renown.

Sir: Robert Winder (Tabloid; "It's OK, I'm a psychiatrist", 30 June) displays a lazy cynicism about Peter Mandelson's TV tears. Even the inventor of the Millennium Experience's worst enemies (eg Simon Hoggart) admits that the lachrymosity was almost certainly unrehearsed and genuine.