Having just resigned from my job in community mental health, this was a book that I was deeply interested to read.

Written by a psychiatrist and psychotherapist with decades of experience, both in the NHS and in private practice, Penelope Campling tells it like it is.

From asylums to therapeutic communities, we've seen services decimated since the 80s and with referrals ever rising, it is the whole of the world that suffers as the effects ripple out.

Lack of beds for acute patients, lack of staff due to rising levels of sickness, or problems recruiting and retaining - is it any wonder people are rapidly losing hope and faith that there is any help out there at all.

Full of common sense suggestions from someone who's worked on the front line, I really respected her words. This wasn't just a glimpse into individual patients, but more, examples were given of certain themes in mental health. Whether that be generational or collective trauma, the effect of unresolved or current grief, suicide, eating disorders as well as less understood conditions.

While it cannot be denied that things are quite bleak currently, there is still a hint of what we can do collectively to help ourselves and each other to make a better world.

Smart, intersting, human.
The world of psychology fascinates me. I have been reading quite a few books based on the topic. This is one of the books that tops..

This book is a refreshing addition to the stories of psychotherapists and psychiatrists. This successfully tackles the stigma that follows psychotherapy - particularly therapeutic communities. As a practitioner in a CEN/Personality Disorder service, I will be recommending that all my students read this book in the uture.

This book was fascinating. It was informative, useful and definitely enhanced my knowledge of mental health and the impact it has on people.

It was engaging, making it easy to read. The author had some interesting reflections from what they’ve picked up on during their work in mental health services and it really made me think. I’m currently studying at university and my current module is based around mental illness, and this book was very relevant to my studies.

It was written in a way that will allow anybody, despite their background, to understand and appreciate the complexity of the human mind and how we try to treat it.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

For some reason this took me a very long time to read. I kept putting it down for a long time before giving it another go, and I don’t know whether it was the subject matter, but I’ve read similar books without issues.

It’s an interesting read with various cases the author has dealt with over her years as a psychiatrist based in Leicester. I feel maybe it was a bit longer than I would have liked, and reading it on my Kindle probably didn’t help with that.

I’d still recommend it and think it was a good read.

I find the world of psychology really interesting and was going through quite a phase of reading books similar to this. With a background in Criminology there's a bit of overlap and I just found Penelopes accounts interesting, at times sad, but realistic. Lots more people need to read books like these to understand more!

I found this book really interesting. it's a topic very close to my heart.

I really enjoyed the look back at mental health throughout history. It was interesting to see what has changed, and what really really hasn't.

I have read lots of books on mental health, but none like this - it's coming from a really unique place, and looks at mental health at a slightly different angle. It's not a self-help book, it's not an advice book, it's not even a memoir but it's all of those things and more!
Really interesting, really intriguing! Now to find more books like this!

This book is a nice addition to the growing genre of medical explorations and one that made me feel hopeful that medical care for mental health issues is improving.

I liked the mix of personal reflection and patient histories.

As a neonatal intensive care nurse, this book resonated so much and was so powerful to me, This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I want to start off this review in the same way as the majority of my other book reviews, by saying that every book I read starts off with the full 5 stars and that I' always hopeful that they will all still be stuck firmly in place by the time I close the back cover.

I'm not sure how many pages this book has got, so I dunno how long it'll take me to read it. I got this book for free on NetGalley, thanks to the publishers approval on the understanding that I'd write and publish this honest review online, so that's what I'm doing.

Let's get reading.

It says on the first page of my ARC that it's an "uncorrected proof" so I'll let any woopsies slide and hope they are picked up before it's published.

It's great that the author has included the details of the Samaritans in the introduction and advised that her book covers difficult topics - does that mean it's gonna be a tear-jerker, heart-breaker or both?

Ah right. There's about 300 pages in this book, so that's potentially a day and a half to 2 days' reading, so I'm prepared now.

I'm loving this book so far... it's talking about the author in the early days of her career as a junior doctor and her ideas about one of the patients not drinking led to a test, then a diagnosis and the patient drinking again!

Where on earth has the morning disappeared to?! It only feels like 10 minutes ago that I was stopping reading so that I could have my lunch but it's almost 3 hours later because I've been so absorbed in it! Those five stars are all still firmly in place!

Oh dear, unfortunately my sense of fair play has kicked in and a star is being knocked off for using a famous fictional character potentially without permission, so sadly we're now down to 4 stars - I hate it when an otherwise incredible book forces me to do that!

Been reading all morning and I'm now at the epilogue. I didn't realise just how hard it is for the mental health doctors and nurses and the pandemic has just made it so much worse for them all! I want to thank each and every MH bod for what they go through on a daily basis with such a small amount of support and funding - it's not an easy career choice and they all work their fingers to the bone and cry real tears for each of their patients. Thank you so much to each and every one of you.

Just finished reading and it can all be summed up in one single, three letter word: WOW!

I will obviously never know the details of any of these experiences 'cos I don't know the author personally and don't live in her area, but so much of what she was saying has been my own personal experience and, I'm guessing, so many others too.

Thank you for opening my eyes and for the love, care and support you have shown to your patients over the last 40 years, Penelope Campling.

Thank you, Elliott & Thompson, for the advance reading copy.

This book hit me hard. The stories. They have so much the say to everyone. It has a story for everyone I say!

Please do not skip the introduction. It is really important and will give the readers the main idea of what the content is going to be.

I didn't just read the stories as stories. They are real and I read them more like essays.

This book is more relevant now as it presents some of the most urgent topics regarding health in general although it focus much on mental health; the current pandemic situation and the different aspects of mental health.

More of a very informative read and updated knowledge, I find this book realistic and commendable.

A much needed must read.