All in the Mind [Hardcover]

As a person that has suffered depression in the past and as someone that treats clients that are currently battling their way through mental health issues, I found this book to be a fascinating insight into the world of sufferers and into the potential problems that the professionals that treat them may obtain through their working life.

For me the book was excellent and somewhat important. You see, as a therapist one of the challenges in treating people with depression, is the way that people react to their illnesses (sometimes not even seeing them as ill at all, but attention seeking). For far too long many people have been misunderstood when they convey to friends and family that they are suffering from a mental health issue such as depression. This book would certainly help to educate those friends and family members that are willing to be open minded and to learn.

All of the story lines from the various characters were handled with respect and where delivered very interestingly.

I am looking forward to this becoming a film on the small screen sometime in the future and awaiting eagerly the announcement of Campbell's next novel.

I would be interested to hear the views of other therapists or sufferers of mental health issues on this book.

Warmly,

Richard MacKenzie
Author of Self-Change Hypnosis

To be honest I've never liked Alastair Campbell. But I'm not interested in the author, I'm reviewing the book.

Also, for the record, I'm Bipolar 1.

At times the book made me laugh outload, and at other times you can't help feel a strong connection to the characters who are having a bad time.
I found the end of the book uplifting, and it has made me see the people in the mental health services in a more positive light.

This book should be compulsory reading for those who secretly think that depressives are just 'weak people', and come out with stupid phrases like 'pull yoursel together'. Intelligent people will enjoy it too.

My question is, does "All in the Mind" live up to the sensitivity and insight shown in the documentary "Cracking Up"?

"All in the Mind" is a novel about a psychiatrist and six patients, whose lives interweave with his own. Like all first novels, it owes a lot to autobiography. Alistair Campbell's own interest in psychiatry stems from his experiences openly and frankly described in "Cracking Up".

The central character, Professor Sturrock is a likeable character who cares more about his patients lives than his personal life, for which he pays the unavoidable price. The Professor has a humanistic approach to psychiatry rather than the "Give them drugs and see if they need sectioning" of modern NHS psychiatric service. As a result there are plenty of details of the lives these people, to which Professor Sturrock responds with everyday, formulaic advice. The advice such as "write down your goals", "do not be afraid to do what you want", combined with weekly homework for his patients, might as well come from a life coach,.

The theme of the book is people, and how they respond to events in their lives, rather than choosing the lives they lead. It is not obvious why Alistair Campbell wrote this book, other than these stories needed to a voice.

The book is important because of the background against which it was written and what it tells us about Campbell's role in government. Sturrock has a lot in common with Campbell. Sturrock is a man who hears peoples' confessions but has limited power to improve their lot beyond offering bland advice, regular meetings and even, when required sanctuary in his own home.

His patients include the David, the humble factory worker, whose final eulogy has a lesson for us all. Others include Emily Parkes, disfigured and desperate to regain the life she lost; Arta Mehmet, the refugee from Kosovo; Hatsatu, whose profession throws Sturrock's own moral values into confusion; and Matthew the sex addict, or not. The final patient, Ralph is Secretary of State, who Sturrock fails to help control his secret drinking.

These are people Campbell knows well. The game must be to put names to faces. However it will take someone with more inside knowledge than I have to complete the clues to this crossword, for example, "The first one is in Jelly but not in Joy"

Campbell's resignation statement contained the everlasting statement "get a life back for me and my family". In his case, it seems likely to be true. Campbell resigned at the time of David Kelly's death and war in Iraq. It is easy to understand why someone whose values are essentially decent found it difficult to continue in government. Equally, Sturrock, at the end of the book realises that something in his life has to give, whether it is his patients, his family whose lives are increasing disrupted by his work, or himself.

There is a final point. I have yet to meet, or meet anyone who has met an NHS psychiatrist who is involved with his patients lives to the extent of Sturrock. I have yet to discover an NHS psychiatrist who can spend a morning seeing six patients for an hour each or treats people with anything other than major psychosis. In the private sector Yes, in the public sector No!

This omission could be forgiven in an ordinary writer but from someone who was at the heart of government from 1997 to 2003, this is worrying. It perhaps explains why our mental health services are in the state they are. This book is evidence that no one in the Blair government bothered to look further than the bland reassurances of doctors at the "top" of the medical profession. Perhaps Gordon Brown's accusation of politicians having Style rather than Substance, applies equally to David Cameron and to the Blair government of which Gordon Brown was part.

Is this a worthy sequel to "Cracking Up"? Yes and no, it lacks the personal insights and sensitivity of that documentary but read in a historical context, it is well worth the money.