You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here

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 compassionatebook, 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
Things certainly don’t always work out for Dr Benji Waterhouse in his darkly amusing and touching memoirYou 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
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