Book Synopsis

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 specialty.

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.

Review Quotes

Darkly amusing and touching... It gives you an alarming insight into the chaotic lives of both patients and medical staff.--Jacqueline Wilson, *Waterstones Favourite Reads of 2024*

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

The face of modern psychiatry--Dr Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know

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

Things certainly don't always work out for Dr Benji Waterhouse in his darkly amusing and touching memoir You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here, about his experiences as an NHS doctor specialising in psychiatry. It gives you an alarming insight into the chaotic lives of both patients and medical staff--Jacqueline Wilson

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

About the Author

Dr Benji Waterhouse is a front-line NHS doctor specializing in psychiatry. He is also an award-winning stand-up comedian who performs sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Festival. He has written for theGuardian and Independent, and was included in a list of 'Inspiring Psychiatrists' by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here is his first book.

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