Through a Hedge Backwards Volume 1: Rats and Stats: Discovering psychology in the swinging sixties

Enter the life of a 1960s psychology student “Rats and Stats” is based on the blog "Through a Hedge Backwards" that has reached thousands of readers in many countries around the world and has been described by its readers as a great read: interesting, entertaining, enjoyable and well written. This first volume of the “Through a Hedge Backwards” memoir series captures the life of a student of psychology at Queensland University in ultra-conservative Brisbane in the swinging sixties. The author has an intimate knowledge of psychology in Australia and provides an insider's view of the development of the profession through its adolescent years. The book delivers a critical examination of the behind-the-scenes maneuverings to resolve the serious issues facing the profession, told against the backdrop of the social history of the times. This critique of the history and politics of Australian psychology is leavened with controversial theories, anecdotes of student life, street marches, wild parties and the life of a singer-songwriter. The author also introduces us to his sometimes-controversial teachers and his radical student friends. But Ian has a secret problem. He is uncoordinated, half-blind, dyslexic and can’t hold his drink. His struggle to overcome these hidden weaknesses is woven through his story with a light but thoughtful touch. • Will Ian pass his exams and get a job or will he be arrested and beaten up in a protest march? • Can Australian psychology escape the dominance of the medical profession and break away from the British Psychological Society? • What is the complicated compromise governing the training of psychologists? • Does Ian fulfill his dream to have his songs published on an album? • Can he reconcile the scientific bent of the Psychology Department with his desire to be a practical, therapeutic psychologist? • Can Ian survive on $10 a week and can he overcome his tendency to fall asleep when he drinks alcohol? Read this memoir to find out. ‘It draws the reader in.’ – Frank McDonald ‘I enjoyed the read and the laugh.’ – George Tully Dr Ian Hills studied psychology in the sixties with MacElwain and his staff at Queensland University. For Ian the sixties was a formative time of change, fun and enlightenment. After graduating he practiced as an adventurous psychologist more or less continuously until his retirement. Ian has taught and studied in universities in Australia, the UK and the USA, worked with remote Aboriginal groups, and been Director of Psychology in a major teaching hospital among many other roles. His experience of psychology has ranged from the freewheeling sixties and seventies through the professionalisation of the eighties and nineties to the over-regulated noughties and teens. He has a close involvement with the evolution of the field of psychology and is a participant in the events he describes. He took part in many of the decisions that shaped Australian psychology in the twentieth century and was a voice of dissention when Australian psychology took directions that he did not agree with. He resigned in protest from the Australian Psychological Society so many times that he was a non-member for nearly half of the 50 years of his professional life. His protest activities were not confined to professional matters. He continues to be an active campaigner for the environment, peace and human rights and his activism is often reflected in the songs he writes and sings. Ian has been a family man and a divorcee. He has four children and numerous grandchildren who have enlivened his life and brought depth to his practice of psychology. Ian is now retired and lives on a bush property in a house he built himself. He spends his time writing, making music and going on long drives through the Australian countryside. He writes a popular blog at http://psychologyinqueenslandmemoir.weebly.com/blog