An Improbable Psychiatrist

'Rebecca Lawrence's memoir strikes at the heart of our understanding of mental illness: What is it? Why do some of us succumb to it? And how best might we treat it? Written with charm, wisdom, and empathy, we could have no better guide to unravelling such mysteries: Lawrence is the sort of person you would want as a friend as much as a psychiatrist. A poignant and powerful read.' Rachel Kelly, Sunday Times bestselling author of Black Rainbow: How Words Healed Me – My Journey through Depression

‘Dr Rebecca Lawrence always wanted to be a psychiatrist but became a patient first. She describes the persisting conflict between those two roles with brutal honesty: the struggles to continue with treatment, rumination about the justification for her diagnosis, and having to face the lingering stigma around mental illness in the medical profession. Most of all, she provides lucid insight into the curious process of becoming a ‘psychiatrist’ - questioning the validity of some of our everyday professional assumptions in a way that those of us who have been patients too can so easily identify with, and those who have not would greatly benefit from reading.’ Linda Gask, Emerita Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry, University of Manchester

‘This is a compulsive read and a bold, important book for anyone interested in understanding more about mental ill health. Dr Lawrence poignantly illustrates her lived experience of the impact of severe mental illness in the context of her work as a psychiatrist and her family life. She also powerfully reflects on the complexities of diagnosis, treatment, and stigma, and their intersection with the messiness of the human condition.’ Louise M. Howard, OBE, Professor Emerita in Women's Mental Health, Section of Women's Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London

‘What stands out in Rebecca Lawrence’s book is that she is writing about her own psychiatric history alongside and woven in with an account of her career as a doctor specialising in psychiatry. She’s a splendid writer. The prose is flowing and the vivid descriptions bring her story to life. Recommended for anyone with a mental illness themselves, or in their family, ultimately for the sense of recovery and of having a future which Rebecca brings, and for anyone working in the healthcare service, to bring to life a patient with a particular condition, into a whole person engaged in clinical work and with a family around her to care for and love.’ Rosalind Ramsay, Consultant Psychiatrist; Responsible Officer; Deputy Medical Director, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

‘Rebecca Lawrence’s An Improbable Psychiatrist is a compelling work that holds a unique place in the mental health literature genre. The first memoir to be written by a psychiatrist and mother with bipolar disorder, Lawrence’s gut-wrenching honesty is riveting. She eloquently depicts her suffering and triumphs through the extraordinary perspective of a parent, a patient, and a highly trained psychiatrist. Lawrence offers hope to readers that no matter how low depression takes them, they too can transform their lives into one that’s worth living. An Improbable Psychiatrist is nothing short of a remarkable journey.’ Dyane Harwood, author, Birth of a New Brain - Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder

'This brave memoir by a psychiatrist who has severe mental illness shows how lost and confused psychiatry and its patients have become. Future readers will be amazed, we must hope, by how poorly we understood and how ineffectively we treated the troubled mind.' Horatio Claire, The Guardian