An Improbable Psychiatrist

This is an extraordinary and fascinating memoir. The author is a practising psychiatrist who has achieved success in her career while struggling with severe health problems which led to many ECT sessions, and drug treatment. It is clearly a brave and painfully honest account straight from the heart. It is skilfully written, moving, powerful, informative and disturbing, all seen from the perspective of being both a doctor and a patient.I once was a patient albeit a long time ago and in very different circumstances. My experiences have informed my strongly critical views about psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, rightly I believe, but we can both be right; psychiatry helps some, harms others. Inevitably, parts of this book triggered me but that's good as reading it has been a learning experience which increased my understanding through reflection.By sharing our experiences, I believe we can learn a lot about our own lives, each with our differences and similarities. We need memoirs of this kind to encourage constructive debate and action, and to reduce stigma by talking openly about what once was seen as a taboo subject. Thank you, Rebecca, for having the courage to write a valuable and thought-provoking memoir that is well worth reading.

Psychiatrist Rebecca Lawrence was a young medical student and new mother when she experienced a sudden mental health crisis, leading to hospitalisation. This engaging and finely crafted autobiography reflects on her journey to becoming a psychiatrist, while attempting to cope with periods of ill-health. As well as reflecting from a psychiatrist-patient perspective, the author views the journey through the lens of being a mother. Thus, while this book deserves to be on the reading list of every medicine programme, it is enjoyable, in its own right, as a story about family, loss, resilience and the perfect brilliance of simply keeping going through difficult times. I found it hard to put this book down.

I gave this book to my 94 year old father in law for Christmas and am sharing this review on his behalf. 'I found this book extremely impressive and thought provoking. How the author kept going, working and having pregnancies, through ill health, pregnancy loss and with a husband often away working in Mexico. It gave me an insight into the difficult role of psychiatrists. How it can be difficult to reach a diagnosis, how diagnosis can change over time and how it can take a long time to find suitable treatment, even when expert help is available. The writing style is very engaging and it is a profound but easy read.'

Excellent exploration of mental illness from the perspective of the healer and the healed. Very honest and forthcoming

A beautifully written, lucid, and sometimes harrowing account, told with candour and generous measures of humour and wisdom. Rebecca’s humanity and compassion shine through the pages. For anyone who cares about mental health and the human condition it is a book to be meditated upon & revisited. Highly recommended.

An honest and beautifully written book that I couldn't put down

This is a brilliant book about life as a mother and doctor whilst suffering long term and severe mental ill health. The periods of good health are as lively and interesting as the episodes of ill health are insightful and heartbreaking. You'll learn a lot from reading it but also be hugely entertained.

This is an excellent memoir of motherhood ,mental illness and being a medical doctor in sickness and in health.It is beautifully written and edited and holds the readers attention throughout .I could have read it in a night but slowed down.n to reflect and also because like all great books I didn't want it to leave me.It should be read by everyone but parents especially.