Author(s): Jon Winokur

Psychology

Our modern age of anxiety threatens to overwhelm us all with angst, ambivalence, and dread. Most of us manage to cope, but not without displaying some pretty bizarre behaviour. Enter Encyclopedia Neurotica, an irreverent A-to-Z guide to the tics, twitches, and safety-valve nuttiness of modern life. Learn about such fascinating foibles as retail therapy, shopping as a means of comfort, relaxation, or mood elevation, or cell yell, loud talking on cell phones in public places by people with a neurotic need to invade their own privacy. Find out whether you suffer from cyberchondria, hypochondria resulting from seeing one's symptoms on a medical Web site, or pronoia, the irrational belief that people like you. First published 2005.