Book reviews: Doctors as Patients and Doorways in the Night
| Date | 01 May 2006 |
| Pages | 45-48 |
| Published date | 01 May 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17556228200600008 |
| Author | Thurstine Basset |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
45
Book reviews
Doctors as Patients
Edited by Petre Jones
Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing (2005) ISBN 1 85775 887 0
and Doorways in the Night
Edited by Terry Simpson
Leeds: Local Voices (2004) ISBN 1 903833 68 X
The Journal of Mental Health Workforce Development Volume 1 Issue 1 May 2006 © Pavilion
Doctors as Patients is a most unusual book. It contains the
writings of a number of medical doctors who
communicate their personal experiences of mental illness.
Petre Jones who works as a GP in East London skilfully
edits the book. Many of the doctors write anonymously
and after reading the book, it is easy to see why this is so.
The stigma and prejudice against doctors with mental
health problems, particularly from within their own
profession, comes across verystrongly. The general
message from within the medical establishment seems to
be that having a mental health problem makes a person
unsuitable to be a doctor.
Unsurprisingly,the estimate is that 25% of doctors are
vulnerable to mental health problems. In this respect, the
figures mirror those of the general public. However,this
book makes the point that doctors are in effect more
prone to mental illness than the general public because of
the very stressful nature of their job. Add to this the fact
that doctors often find it hard to ask for help, with many
not actually registered with a GP, and just being a doctor
starts to feel like a mental health problem in its own right.
The book starts with various personal stories, which
the editor then summarises – pulling out key themes and
making recommendations. I realised quite early on that
the book is mainly addressed to doctors and that one of its
key aims is to educate the medical profession. The
following two parts of the book are ‘What’s it like?’ and
‘Dealing with it’.
There are many very interesting strategies for living
with and surviving mental health problems (for example
in Chapter 23 ‘Ideas for the dark days’). Again I was struck
by how restrictive the role of doctor can be – some advice
said things like ‘make yourself do something non-medical
in the evening’. Some chapters also give very specific
advice about insurance, benefits, employment and the
procedures of the General Medical Council. I found these
interesting even though I am not a doctor.
The humanity of the writers stands out and is
particularly strong in the chapter that is devoted to poetry
when you really hear the people rather than the
professionals speak. The writers have shown great
emotional courage to come together and produce this
book. Their solidarity is gained through the ‘Doctor’s
Support Network’ (www.dsn.org.uk) showing that sharing
similar experiences with others is a simple way to be
stronger and more empowered.
One last thing, ward rounds get a verybad press –
everyone hates them – doctors included – (so why don’t
we all get together and try to abolish them).
Moving from Doctors as Patients to Doorways in the
Night, I was very interested to read a series of chapters
written by a group of people from the Leeds area. Their
‘stories of living with and recovering from emotional distress’
arose from a series of workshops, which were funded by
Yorkshire Arts.
This is essentially a collection of stories from a variety
of authors – a few of whom have sought a measure of
anonymity. The stories stand on their own together with
some powerful illustrations, which add a dash of colour
and a visual element that greatly enhances the book. The
stories are powerful, and as such, this book is best read a
chapter at a time. I found myself reading a couple of
chapters, reflecting on them and then returning to the
book a week later to read some more.
The editor, Terry Simpson, is a service user/survivor from
Leeds, and worked with all the writers during the workshops
and the process of putting the book together.He points out
that the medicalisation of ‘mental health’ has often meant
in the past that a label has made a human story irrelevant
or effectively silenced the potential writers. The book is an
attempt to redress the balance. The writers express
themselves freely and there is a lot of passion in this book.
There is also some humour with one chapter (‘The
Flight of the Phoenix’) using news flashes to illustrate
where the author is at: ‘We have news just coming in that a
Leeds man is threatening to throw himself into a deep well of
despair…’ and later ‘More on that story concerning a Leeds
man. We can now confirm, the unnamed man has in fact
fallen into the well of despair…’ And later still ‘The Leeds
man drowning in a well of despair has in fact, with the help of
his internal fire-fighters, pulled himself out. He will face
charges of not being a ‘real man’ and a ‘bad son’ in the near
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