ANALYZE WEST

In this brilliant, original and entertaining book, psychiatrist Nicholas Beecroft conjures up Western civilisation in a character called West who is on the brink of suicide when he arrives in the office of psychiatrist Dr James Hill. He is bloated, consumed with fear and anxiety and has lost his self-confidence and sense of direction. He does not know whether he is on the brink of a breakthrough to an enlightened global consciousness or a collapse into extremism, disruptive climate change, terrorism and Chinese domination - or a bit of both. Nicholas is a military and organisational psychiatrist who has consulted on the psychology of international relations, cultural diplomacy, national identity and counterterrorism. He has also interviewed 30 visionary leaders in his future of Western civilisation series, which feeds into the content of this book.

The book takes the form of a novel with a subplot about the pressures of modern medicine and psychiatry woven into a love story, which also gets Dr Hill into trouble, but has a happy ending and helps keep readers turning the page. West is quite embarrassed to turn up in a psychiatrist's office as the spirit of Western civilisation, which also puts Hill in an awkward situation when it comes to explaining the nature of the patient and his condition. He is very nervous about falling into the hands of the media or his competitors and when asked about his age, says around 3000. He has been suffering from panic attacks 2008 but has all kinds of other worries to contend with as well, leading to a loss of self-confidence and low self-esteem. He has a vast appetite for oil and gas but realises there is a limit to his growth. Sometimes he eats healthily, but most of the time he eats processed junk food and is caught in a cycle of bingeing and dieting.

The second session introduces the voices of spiral dynamics, with their different views of (and values relating to) human development, which they proceed to explain to West. These voices are all present within him and show themselves in different guises at contemporary events. They are like multiple personalities, and each has its own complaints. The internal dialogue helps him to come to terms with his situation and the reader is soon back in medical reality, including a complaint about Dr Hill's conduct in approaching a junior doctor, Suki Chen, for a date. West then turns up again in the emergency department, having been found drunk and having taken an overdose on Waterloo Bridge. The dialogue continues, and Hill recommends mindfulness-based stress reduction before going on to a discussion of truth and science.

Subsequent dialogues enable West to explore different aspects of leadership and human potential, environment and resources, energy, sex and gender, meaning and purpose, economics, power and authority, religious extremism, security, defence and peace. The position and prospects of various individual countries are brought in, including Russia, China, India, Africa and the Arab world. This enables Nicholas' experience in international relations to be brought to bear on such questions as identity and racism, escaping the victim – perpetrator – rescuer triangle, transforming fear and anger into love, and questions of equality and justice. Throughout these discussions, the voices of spiral dynamics continue to be expressed and exchanged.

Meanwhile, the new chief executive of the health trust suspends him without pay pending referral to the General Medical Council on two grounds: abusing his power and position by initiating a sexual relationship with a junior doctor, and seeing Mr West without keeping any records or personal details or writing to his GP. Moreover, he has been deliberately concealed from his colleagues when the patient is clearly psychotic with delusions of grandeur and almost committed suicide as a result of Hill's inaccurate diagnosis and lack of adequate treatment. Eventually, the GMC hearing takes place with legal cross-examination. The prosecution claims that West has paranoid schizophrenia and needs antipsychotics, antidepressants and sedatives. It turns out, however, that these senior trust doctors had hacked into Dr Hill's computer, which is a criminal offence. At this point, West himself enters the chamber and it turns out that he knows everything about those prosecuting Dr Hill, including the fact that the prosecution barrister takes cocaine at sex parties. The hearing ends in disarray and Dr Hill is eventually cleared.

The last part of the book introduces the New Magna Carta, the subject of Nicholas' next book, representing his positive vision of the future. It is an important state occasion enabling West to make a public declaration and inviting people to rewrite the Magna Carta for the 21st-century. At this point he introduces Dr Hill as the psychiatrist who has been helping him clarify his thinking and find his voice. West expresses his strengths and weaknesses, what he was grateful for and ashamed of, and where he is heading in an emergent, evolutionary process. There are questions from the audience, which are difficult to answer because of the contradictory inner voices already encountered during the process. However, he does have a highest set of values, which the reader will recognise as drivers of human Progress (p. 357). He also knows what is required for humans to thrive and survive. The book is quite an epic journey and the next episode will be a psychiatrist's prescription for Western civilisation, to be published in 2015, which I will personally look forward to reading and reviewing. In the meantime, I would recommend going on the instructive and entertaining journey recounted in this book.