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 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 KnowHumorous 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 nurseVery funny and deeply sympathetic. Really excellent – Henry Marsh, author of Do No HarmThings 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 WilsonA 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

Dr Benji Waterhouse is a front-line NHS doctor specialising in psychiatry. He is also an award-winning stand-up comedian who performs sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Festival. He has written for the Guardian 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.