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You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here

A Psychiatrist’s Life

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You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here

By: Benji Waterhouse
Narrated by: Benji Waterhouse
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.


**THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**
Most of the psychiatric cases in this book are Benji’s patients. Some of them are his 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?

This is an eye-opening medical memoir – from both sides of the doctor’s desk. The perfect read for fans of This Is Going to Hurt, Unnatural Causes and The Prison Doctor.


A humane, hilarious and heart-breaking window into the world of psychiatry from ‘the Adam Kay of mental healthcare’ (THE TIMES)

‘This is honestly my dream book… Fascinating’ FERN BRADY
‘Fearlessly honest, funny and uplifting’ JO BRAND

‘Very funny and deeply sympathetic. Really excellent’ HENRY MARSH

©2024 Benji Waterhouse (P) 2024 Penguin Audio

 Medical Professionals & Academics Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Funny Witty Feel-Good Mental Health Health Medicine

Critic Reviews

Darkly amusing and touching... It gives you an alarming insight into the chaotic lives of both patients and medical staff. (Jacqueline Wilson)
Hilarious, shocking and urgent… a deeply compassionate book, which paints a picture of professional dedication in the face of almost unbelievable dysfunction
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)
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
Funny, humane and insightful
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)
All stars
Most relevant
Incredibly humane memoir telling the story of the mental health system in the UK - one of the best books I've read in a long while. Full of belly laughs while never losing sight of the broader personal issues facing his patients, nor the sobering reality of systemic failures. It feels very true to life but written in a very readable way. Highly recommend!

One of my favourites

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Accurately portrayed and compassionate account of working at the coal face of mental health services . Highly recommend

Witty and compassionate

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As a psychologist also born in the north of England I loved the insight into the psychiatrist world with northern humour. You sound fabulous at your job, keep going!

Thoroughly Enjoyed!

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Having worked in many mental health units, I identified with so much of this book. Black humour is how we get by. My husband didn’t find it as amusing as I did.

The realism

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This book took me back through my thirty plus years of mental health nursing in Australia and I couldn’t believe the similarities. I laughed and I cried and I didn’t know whether I was relieved we’re not the only ones to feel this way or to be depressed that the same issues are all over the world and we are in the lucky countries!
So well written with a light hearted look at what could be a very tough subject. Thank you for your honesty.

A fabulous book and very well read.

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Always good to hear about not only the good or only the bad. Nice to know that others have ups and downs just the same. Helps when the author is funny and witty too.

A good read

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Love the dry humour and delivery, compassionate and illuminating insight into a flawed system with all trying to keep their heads above water.

Very funny

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this was such a fantastic listen. it's the best book I've come across in ages. Benji reports from the coalface of NHS psyc, sharing experiences and giving background explanations that few people know about. I absolutely loved the humour but I also loved that it was done in a compassionate way that wasn't judgey about clients, yet laughed about the surreal ridiculousness of some occurrences. it gave insight into the world of an NHS psyc, into his clients' worlds, and courageously, Benji shared a lot about his personal world. this last part - sharing about his personal world and acknowledging that we all have our traumas and dysfunctions and challenges - is an important part of what psychiatry will hopefully start to become. less of the well vs the unwell/us vs them and more of I'm doing better on the continuum and I can help you, but I respect you and don't need to pretend to be perfect or to patronise you. Benji, if you read this, you're a legend and a groundbreaker. thank you

fantastic, funny, insightful

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Really good listening, completed in one day couldn’t stop . It really sang home to me and no doubt any other health care worker .

Amazing !

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