You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here

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

Funny, clear-eyed and unexpectedly moving

Sebastian Faulks, author of Birdsong

Very funny and deeply sympathetic. Really excellent

Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm

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

An absolute beauty... Wise, warm, witty and an excellent insight

Dr Phil Hammond, author of Staying Alive

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

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

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

Funny, humane and insightful

i news

Fascinating, heartbreaking and hilarious

Michael Odell, The Times

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*

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

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

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

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

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*

Treading a delicate line between the humane and the hilarious… An unforgettable joy

i, *Books of the Year*

The face of modern psychiatry

Dr Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know

A really excellent piece of work

Richard Herring

Brings sanity to the mental health conversation and is also somehow very funny

Nihal Arthanayake