'We must try to feel whole again ...before it's too late'

Humans have become obsessed with regulations at the expense of their creative and intuitive side, argues a leading psychiatrist. And unless we reverse this trend, society is racing towards a cliff edge

- By Lucy Johnston SOCIAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

AN OBSESSION with regulations has eroded the foundations of society, leaving the West facing a collapse akin to that of the Roman Empire.

This is the stark warning from Dr Iain McGilchrist, a psychiatrist and author who believes our way of thinking and seeing the world has become too rule-bound and machine-like.

He attributes this to relying too heavily on the “apparently logical” left hemisphere of the brain, at the expense of the more flexible right.

As a result, we too often ignore our intuitive side in favour of explicit regulations — even when the rules in question are flawed.

He explained: “Such a way of seeing is typical of the less intelligent left hemisphere of the brain.

“Its role could be thought of as a technical assistant to the more intelligent, subtle, flexible right hemisphere — which sees and understands far more.

“When the left side acts as a servant it is useful, but it is a disastrously poor master.

“This way of thinking tends to spread rapidly when a great civilisation is in decline. It happened in Greece, it happened in Rome, and it is happening again now.”