When there is turmoil in society, humanity experiences emotional turmoil. But the opposite can also be true, explains retired clinical psychologist Dr. Bruce Hutchison. Emotions can be the fuel that feeds society’s turmoil in times of political or social upheaval. Can the cycle ever be broken?
In his groundbreaking book, Emotions Don’t Think: Emotional Contagion in a Time of Turmoil, Dr. Hutchison explores in depth the nature — and the power — of emotional contagion, its impact on society and how to stop the spread.
“You can’t have turmoil without emotions, so we have to stop the spread of contagious toxic emotions to stop the turmoil in society,” Dr. Hutchison said. “This book tells you how to do that without changing your position on an issue.”
Emotions Don’t Think describes how to use systematic reasoning and critical thinking to put necessary limitations and stipulations on incoming emotions.
“In this book, I use my psychological knowledge to explain how to stem the flow of negative emotional contagion in our current social and political environment,” he said. “It is important to know how to evaluate an emotion that comes at you in order to decide if it should be acted on as is, tempered, minimized or blocked.”
Emotions Don’t Think presents a psychological perspective on events in contemporary society, with an emphasis on the effects of emotions and how they are contagious and impact the people who may absorb them. There are five chapters on overcoming the effects of contagious toxic emotions by using healthy psychological principles. It is Dr. Hutchison’s hope that these principles can be used to help society mitigate and cope with emotional contagion in this day and age.
“People use these emotions to think, but emotions can only feel,” Dr. Hutchison added. “Emotions don’t think.”
About the Author
Dr. Bruce Hutchison received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ottawa in Canada in 1984. He received his M.A. in Psychology from the University of Manitoba in 1969. As a clinical psychologist with 50-plus years of experience performing psychotherapy, counselling, consultation and assessment to thousands of clients and patients in various settings, he understands people, emotions, relationships, allegiances, social trends, thoughts, behavior and what makes people tick. He has worked as a psychologist in prisons, hospitals, social agencies, mental health programs and for many years in independent private practice, providing psychological services in three Canadian provinces. He has worked for private companies assessing candidates’ psychological suitability to carry firearms. He has been an oral examiner of candidates striving to become a psychologist. He has served on boards of psychology in two Canadian provinces and on a national basis in Canada.
He has appeared on TV and radio, speaking about various topics, such as managing stress, handling emotions, building self-esteem, overcoming depression and conquering phobias. Now retired, Dr. Hutchison lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with his wife, Catherine, and their cat, Spring. He has two adult children and 10 lovely grandchildren.
Learn more at www.bruhut.com, or follow the author on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EmotionsDontThinkBOOK) or
(https://www.facebook.com/BruHut), or on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/bruhut2).
Emotions Don’t Think: Emotional Contagion in a Time of Turmoil
Publisher: Crossfield Publishing
ISBN-10: 1990326005
ISBN-13: 978-1990326004
Available from Amazon.com
And from Amazon.ca
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Reviews, photos, links to previous interviews and Q&As are available upon request.