You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here: A Psychiatrist’s Life (Hardback)
  • You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here: A Psychiatrist’s Life (Hardback)
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You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here: A Psychiatrist’s Life (Hardback)

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Hardback 336 Pages
Published: 16/05/2024
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Waterstones Says

Perfect reading for fans of This is Going to Hurt and The Language of Kindness, these case studies from Waterhouse's career as a psychiatrist make for hilarious, moving and compelling reading.

Humane, hilarious and heart-breaking - an enlightening and darkly comic window into the world of psychiatry

A woman in a wedding dress arrives at the hospital looking for Harry Styles.

A lorry driver with schizophrenia believes he’s got a cure for coronavirus.

A depressed man hides his profession from his GP due to stigma.

Most of the psychiatric cases in this book are his patients. Some of them are family. One of them is him.

Unlocking the doors to the psych ward, NHS psychiatrist Dr Benji Waterhouse provides a fly-on-the-padded-wall account of medicine’s most mysterious and controversial speciality.

Why would anyone in their right mind choose to be a psychiatrist? Are the solutions to people’s messy lives really within medical school textbooks? And how can vulnerable patients receive the care they need when psychiatry lacks staff, hospital beds and any actual cures?

You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here explores these complicated questions from both sides of the doctor’s desk.

This is the perfect read for fans of This Is Going to Hurt, Unnatural Causes and The Prison Doctor.

Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9781787333178
Number of pages: 336
Weight: 443 g
Dimensions: 222 x 141 x 29 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

Hilarious, shocking and urgent… a deeply compassionate book, which paints a picture of professional dedication in the face of almost unbelievable dysfunction - The Times, Book of the Week*

It has a freshness and verve that sets it apart... What is unwavering and beautifully described is the inspiration Waterhouse continues to find in his patients. He has that essential trait of all good doctors: a sincere and lasting tenderness for his flawed and frail, crude and complicated, broken and brilliant fellow human beings… Ultimately, this is a campaigning work, both brilliantly funny and deadly serious…. His book is humane, hilarious, eye-opening – and deserves to be widely read - Rachel Clarke, Guardian

Humorous and humane … [Waterhouse] finds the funny without turning patients into punchlines... It’s a warm-hearted reminder that the [NHS] system is still staffed by many people doing their darnedest to connect with and care for people - Sunday Telegraph

Funny, humane and insightful - i news

A darkly comic personal trawl through the world of psychiatry and the idiosyncratic characters struggling on both sides of the divide. Honest, funny, saddening and uplifting all rolled into one - Jo Brand, comedian and former psychiatric nurse

Very funny and deeply sympathetic. Really excellent - Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm

A heartbreaking and also funny look at psychiatry. I loved this engrossing book which taught me lots of new things and broadened my mind - Cathy Rentzenbrink

Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply moving in equal measure, his compassion for his patients shines through. Wonderfully written. I loved this book - Max Pemberton, author of Trust Me I'm a (Junior) Doctor

An absolute beauty... Wise, warm, witty and an excellent insight - Dr Phil Hammond, author of Staying Alive

This is honestly my dream book. Both fascinating and bleakly funny in the way only an embattled NHS psychiatrist's book could be - Fern Brady, author of Strong Female Character

I loved it. Witty, poignant, thoughtful, and moving. It’s made me want to start psychiatry all over again - Professor Sir Simon Wessely, former President of The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Funny, clear-eyed and unexpectedly moving - Sebastian Faulks, author of Birdsong

Fascinating, heartbreaking and hilarious - Michael Odell, The Times

Funny but also touching and, at times, incredibly sad. A love letter to both psychiatry and the patients we care for, the author's humanity and devotion shine through. - Max Pemberton, Daily Mail

[A] superb memoir… a book that should really prompt a public inquiry but is also, somehow, hilarious… If this book does not serve as a wake-up call that serious change is needed, I don’t know what will - Evening Standard

Furious and very funny… If you want to read something that matters, try this - Sunday Times, Summer Reads of 2024*

[A] compassionate, insightful and thought-provoking memoir - Daily Express

A topical read that sheds light and humour on a dark crisis - Mail on Sunday, Summer Reads of 2024*

Waterhouse…manages to tread that delicate line of being both humane and hilarious - iNews, Summer Reads of 2024*

[A] stark, funny, and humane account of working as a psychiatrist in the UK’s National Health Service… profoundly and ruthlessly honest - Lancet

A darkly comic personal trawl through the world of psychiatry and the idiosyncratic characters struggling on both sides of the divide. Honest, funny, saddening and uplifting all rolled into one. - Jo Brand

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“Powerful and painfully "entertaining" insight into NHS mental health services”

Dr Benji (actually Benjamin but not Ben please!) Waterhouse tells the tale of his time as an NHS psychiatrist from his start in the specialty. After 6 years at medical school and 2 years as a junior doctor he started... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 11

“Entertaining, eye opening and heart breaking”

You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here by Dr Benji Waterhouse, is an account of his experiences, during training to become an NHS Consultant Psychiatrist. It is brutally honest, about both the situation facing NHS... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 10

“Funny, saddening, hopeful”

“You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here” is a memoir from Dr Benji Waterhouse, an NHS psychiatrist, about his training and work in this often misunderstood field of medicine (are they psychiatrists, psychologists or... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 9

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