I’ve always enjoyed books which give you a glimpse into a world you’d (luckily) never normally see. You don’t have to be mad to work here gives a stark and fascinating insight into the mental health wards and clinics of our NHS. We shadow Dr. Benji Waterhouse from junior doctor to consultant, case study by case study. We’re told from the outset that the book covers the more severe cases of mental health, so you would be forgiven for not expecting to laugh out loud frequently throughout the book, but you will. The humour interspersed within the book is much needed too because the case studies are concerning and heartbreaking, sad and more rarely, uplifting. I couldn’t stop reading the book from the first page to the last. I would definitely read another book from this author.

If memoirs and books featuring other inside insights are got thing, if you liked This is Going To Hurt, you will love this.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the change to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Told through case studies featuring some of his patients, Dr Benji Waterhouse gives us an insight into the challenges and struggles faced by those who work in psychiatry and are trying to treat and care for the vulnerable, amidst staff shortages, a lack of NHS beds and no readily available cures.

The tone is brilliantly pitched. The gravity of the cases he is dealing with is evident and elicits sympathy from the reader, both for the patients and the medical staff but the use of ‘gallows humour’ adds lightness to a painful topic. The humour also makes the complex subject of the human mind accessible and easy to follow.

As well as looking at case studies, Dr Benji Waterhouse also ponders the question of why he became a psychiatrist. He looks back over his childhood memories and the relationships he has with his family to try and find the answer. Through this we realise that psychiatrists don’t always have the answers and are subject to the fragilities of life just like every human being.

It’s a compassionate, humorous, timely and deeply moving memoir which I absolutely loved and have already started recommending to everyone.

Doctor Benji Waterhouse is a psychiatrist in the NHS. This book chronicles his life from the start of his career until now and oh what an eye opening look into the mental health sector in Britain it is.

His writing is superb and what could have otherwise been a dark subject and solemn reading it was far from it. Dr Waterhouse injects an element of humour and humanity into his writing and brought depth and humanity to the mentally unwell. His first experience of a patient who was unsuccessful in his attempt to take his own life led Dr Waterhouse to conclude that there wasn't a point in fixing a persons body if their mind wasn't tended to and made him want to be a psychiatrist. When I read that I knew that this doctor was the real deal. The world needs more of people who genuinely want to help. He describes the blocks that are put up that make treating every patient with mental health issues almost impossible and how some are sent home for not being "suicidal enough". He also talks about his own mental health and that of his family and his parents impact on him. He's not afraid of the nitty gritty and is very open about both his and the health systems failings.

I hope he writes more. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It made me laugh and cry and was just so so respectful and honest about the mental health system. There's so much we take for granted and we still aren't at a point where we dont judge people with mental health problems and I feel like everyone regardless of whether they've experienced it or not should read this book. I cannot recommend this enough. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Dr Benji Waterhouse and RandomHouse UK for the digital ARC of this book.

What an absolutely heart-breaking joy of a book. I laughed and cried all the way through and hope that Benji writes more.

This is the story of Benji Waterhouse, newly qualified doctor, on his journey specialising in psychiatry. I can't imagine a job more designed to depress and terrify and was delighted to see it was just how I imagined. There was the sense of a real "seat of the pants" diagnosis style but given so little time and so few resources what else could it be?

Not only does Benji have to deal with patients who obfuscate, demur and downright lie about how ill they are - either too much or too little but he's also got to deal with the ones who think they are werewolves or have cured viral outbreaks or are being poisoned by the drugs prescribed to cure them.

So much of the book deals with the limitations of poorly funded units and overworked doctors that it could be depressing but Benji Waterhouse has that rarest of things - an extremely light touch on the steering wheel that continually tips the depressing into snort-worthy hilarity.

Loved it. Looked forward to reading it. Highly recommend it

Thankyou to Netgalley and Random House, Vintage for the advance review copy.

A well put together eye opener and written in a fresh and fun way that only makes you want to dive into each page right to the very end, A well told account to the life of the psyche,

Enlightening, eye-opening, and so candid and honest. It was like pulling the curtain back from the psych ward in the UK and getting a POV look inside. The writing is compelling, at times absurd and oftentimes hilarious, yet also harrowingly profound, with a depth that startled me and kept me riveted. It wasn't clinical in the sense of 'this is this and that is that' - it was the level of humanness the author weaves into his narrative, which is his own POV that he conveys so beautifully and so tragically, too, at times. I loved reading about the wards, the patients who appear like 'side characters' throughout, Dr Waterhouse's family and entourage. It's human, so perfectly flawed and flawlessly perfect at the same time, just that right level of conveying gravitas without veering into melodrama or being flippant about it. At the same time, it conveys the dire state of psychiatric health in the UK, the perception of mental illness that's still prevalent out there, the tragedy of this kind of suffering... Darkness with light, balanced just enough throughout, which is a feat, to be honest.
In a lot of ways, this book reminds me of This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor But what I took away from this one is the resilience - at the end, Dr Waterhouse is still standing, still going at it, still the same human being at the heart of him. And that's a story/tale of courage and openness, the one he tells us in these pages.

If you enjoyed Adam Kay’s books you will love this. Benji describes life in the NHS as a busy psychiatric in London through the pandemic with humour and real empathy for his patients who have complex needs.

Despite the sadness there is real hope if we have committed doctors like the author.

A brilliantly witty insight into life as a mental health professional. Working in this area I love reading a book that brings mental health into the forefront and shows the highs and lows of this profession. The openness from the author was much appreciated. I think it’s accessible and human. Definitely would compare it to Adam Kay, but better as it mental health focused! Everyone read this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

For me I don't think there is any profession for which a well written "life at the coalface" book would not be interesting. The caveat is that they must be well written - otherwise even the most exciting jobs will appear tedious beyond belief. This book ticks all the boxes. There are just enough personal details to know who the author is. There is a good mix of funny and tragic tales. The patients are all dealt with respectfully and the realities of life working as a NSH psychiatrist will shock most people. This is a perfect holiday read as it can be picked up and put down, and is full of stories to share over dinner with friends. I also think that this is a safe book to recommend to everyone - reluctant readers included.

I rarely read non fiction, the subject has to really appeal to me and the cover and blurb on this really grabbed me as I find mental health fascinating and this is a nicely balanced read covering many facets of it. It doesn’t hide from the many grim realities, including the effect on the staff themselves, but the writing style balances out the good and the bad with some fascinating facts thrown in. The author appears to have been really transparent about his own experiences both professional and personal and also has the kind of gallows humour approach that I really like. The start of the book is more humorous than the main content but I found that helped me engage in it well from the start and there is still humour to be found within the rest. This was really informative and eye opening, the situation within our mental health service is quite horrifying and this does a great job of conveying all this.

This is a funny but brutally honest book. I know some people who don't approve of this kind of career memoir, especially medical memoirs, because basically the reader is being entertained with stories about folk who may not have given permission for their stories to be gossiped about, even if their names are changed. Such stories in a psychiatric setting would probably set their hair flying off their head.
Yet, it is undeniably entertaining. It is painfully honest, so much so I did wonder several times whether he could ever look some people in the eye again, including perhaps, the most awkward, his mum.

I loved this book! As a retired midwife, I could identify with his description of working for the NHS and my goodness, Benji Waterhouse is a funny guy! His humour had me laughing out loud! It’s a heart-warming and heart-wrenching tale in equal measures of how junior doctors (and most health professionals) learn by the ‘see one, do one, teach one’ ethos that is apparently still present in the NHS (not for midwives I should add, you had to see 10 before they let you ‘do’ one!) It also captures the need to see the funny side of your job or you’d crumble at times.

As part of my general training I was seconded to a psychiatric unit where the view from the sitting room windows was of the railway viaduct known for its popularity as a potential suicide jumping point. I also remember walking in on my first day and not having a clue who was a fellow health professional and who was a patient. In those days (early 90s) smoking was still permitted and it was like walking into a bar…………a fog of cigarette smoke as staff and patients seemed to smoke all day long! When I finally located a staff member, I was advised to just chat to the patients. This book took me right back to those days of not knowing quite what to say to those patients who sat staring at the viaduct all day long, me wondering if they were thinking about jumping or just daydreaming and being terrified to bring up the subject of suicide in case I gave them ideas. (I now know that talking about suicide doesn’t increase the likelihood of someone carrying it through, quite the opposite but I didn’t know it then.)

I loved that Benji willingly shared his own imperfections too, with tales of his childhood, his relationship with his parents and siblings and his relationship with Esther and of course, Joseph, his own therapist. His honesty and vulnerability was touching. I particularly enjoyed the tales of lockdown. Lockdown gets blamed for everything these days and it’s not often that anyone points out the positives aspects of it.

I’ve read other books by medics, some I’ve enjoyed, some I’ve felt were just egos needing some bolstering and glory. This was refreshingly different, honest, touching, and hysterically funny in places!! I hope Benji writes more books!

Dr Benji Waterhouse opens the door to his psychiatry office and gives us the opportunity to learn more about the NHS mental health services. From his time as a junior doctor, stints at the crisis team and PICU through to a consultant. We get to meet some of his patients, colleagues, family and learn about his own mental health.

The start of this had me rolling with laughter, it was absolutely hilarious! Unfortunately, that smile is quickly off my face as he gets further in to the mental health crisis and the impact it not only has on the patients, but the staff too.

“Statistically one in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point, and while mental illness accounts for 28% of the nations overall disease burden, it receives just 13% of nhs funding. In fact, despite increased demand for mental health support, the number of psychiatric beds in England has fallen from 67,000 in 1988 to be 18,000 in 2019”

Some of the patient’s stories will pull at your heart strings and some will make you chuckle (even though you know you shouldn’t!). I found Paige’s story particularly sad. Unwell, but not unwell enough to have access to the help she clearly needs to get better. It was difficult to read that the stigma of personality disorders doesn’t just lay with the general public, but health professionals too.

“In reality people with schizophrenia are more likely to be victims of violence. Alcohol and drug misuse is a far bigger risk factor for violence and homicide, yet curiously people don’t fear parties like they do psychiatric hospitals”

As someone who was diagnosed as bipolar, after bouncing around in the system for 15 years, it was an incredibly interesting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for my advanced copy.

A gentleman with schizophrenia is asked if he’d like to increase his medication to help quieten the voices. His response: “No thank you, doctor, some of them are nice. And besides, they keep me company.”

I saw psychiatrist Benji speak at a conference a couple of years ago where he read the opening of this book. He outlined how the ward plant received all the things he was lacking - water, sunlight, caring attention. Hundreds of us nodded along furiously and then cried laughing. I’m so excited for this book to come out shortly, having very gratefully received an advanced e-copy a few months ago.

A self described social worker with a stethoscope, Benji takes us through his specialist training in psychiatry. Unlike most medical memoirs I’ve read, Benji takes a scalpel to his own life, documenting his expreience in therapy. It feels like a real privilege to hear about his own childhood, his parents and the difficulties the family has had to overcome.

While there are plenty of anecdotes that will make you laugh, Waterhouse manages to avoid using patients merely as gags to be laughed at. Stories from life in clinic are infused with compassion and introspection. He marries his expectations of his role with the reality of a cash strapped NHS trying to keep a psychiatric service afloat.

I think this book is so important in terms of conveying some of the reality of a life with chronic, enduring mental illness like schizophrenia. The stigma that follows patients everywhere colours so much of their lives. At one point, Benji tried to set up a patient in a gardening club to provide some routine, only to be met by horror at the other end of the phone from the gardeners.

Simply, this is a fantastic read. If you enjoyed This is Going to Hurt, there’s a lot here to enjoy and ponder over.

Benji strikes a good balance of showing the reader the realities of working in mental health whilst keeping light hearted about what is actually quite a desperate situation. As with all NHS services everyone is stretched and patients are not getting the service they need. Benji's patient stories, along with his own personal trauma add soul to the narrative. I couldn't put it down most nights before bed. I'd welcome more about life as a Psychiatrist!

I’d like to thank Random House UK, Vintage and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here’ written by Benji Waterhouse in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

‘You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here’ is a ‘fly-on-the-padded-wall’ account of a psychiatrist’s life as the author chooses to work in the field of psychiatry within the NHS so that he can help those with serious mental illnesses. He tells of his early days training under the guidance of Dr Glick, as he works through the Covid pandemic and finally becomes a consultant, all the while realising that the more he knows the less he feels he knows. He talks openly about his relationship with his family, his mother’s demands for a grandchild, and making a home together with his girlfriend Esther.

The author has written an interesting memoir of his life in a London hospital that’s been told with an engaging sense of humour that had me smiling. He told of his own need for counselling with Joseph and included amusing stories of his patients, particularly the woman who flew in from America in a wedding dress ready to marry Harry Styles, Gladys who was a changed person after having an ECG, and the patient who thought he was a werewolf. The story of how he only just avoided having a mass break-out thanks to the collapsing legs of the table-tennis table had me grinning. He commented on his struggles to make himself a cup of tea thanks to the staff having to supply their own tea-bags and milk, and the general lack of funds allowing the NHS to employ more staff. This has been an interesting and thought-provoking read, an eye-opener that’s made me want to laugh and cry and that I greatly enjoyed.

An interesting and humorous account of the working life of a psychiatrist. I loved the anecdotes and descriptions of the various patients.
An illuminating read

“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 psychics?!). It doesn’t hold back - each chapter features a different patient’s story and the difficulties that can arise with diagnoses and then getting the treatment needed. As is so often with memoirs of staff who work in the NHS, the challenges are numerous, not least the mental health struggles that psychiatrists can face themselves. In this respect, the book was particularly enlightening and thought provoking.

And while, again with these memoirs, there can be some hugely sad moments and frustrating ones around the lack of funding for our healthcare system, it makes the reader (or it certainly made me!) feel grateful for all of the work that these professionals do.

This book is funny, saddening, grim, uplifting, hopeful and I would recommend that everyone reads it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

A laugh out loud view of a psychiatrist`s work as he was training is quite an eye opener on the vast shortage of staff and beds for admitting patients and the stress he goes through himself.
Each chapter he has a different patient and how he try's to help them. the variety of symptoms are quiet an eye opener.
The book is full of humour and can be sometimes heart breaking.
I definitely recommend this book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review.

I have worked as a mental health social worker for years, on and off wards and in community teams. This book actually made me laugh and cry , and related in such an honest way how scared, sad and happy this work can make you , all in quick succession. I could maybe have wished some of the thornier issues like self harm, or antidepressants, were delved into a wee bit more, so as not to inadvertently feed stereotypes, but overall I thought the author did a cracking job,