Book of the Month: You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here by Dr Benji Waterhouse
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Our Book of the Month for May 2024 is Dr Benji Waterhouse's You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here: A Psychiatrist's Life
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A candid behind-the-scenes look into NHS emergency psychiatry, Waterhouse also gets honest about his personal life and upbringing
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Benji Waterhouse wanted to "unlock the doors to the psych ward" with a "fly-on-the-padded-wall account of NHS psychiatry, which also looks to break some myths... like there aren't actually any padded walls."
Waterhouse is also a comedian, and his book You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here is, despite its content, sometimes funny, and always compassionate. His book gives a voice to the more serious end of mental health, to those who have heavily stigmatised diagnoses like schizophrenia and survivors of suicide attempts.
Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals like therapists are generally encouraged not to disclose personal information. Finding this "unfair and robotic," Waterhouse hopes that by getting open about his own personal experiences and "complicated upbringing" – an otherwise loving childhood touched by "alcoholism and violence" – he can help to humanise the psychiatric industry.
From the validity of diagnoses and the effectiveness of antidepressants, Waterhouse's book is a thought-provoking and insightful take on some important, complicated and contentious topics.
