Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay

52 reviews

jebarlo09's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Moderate: Mental illness

kat_greenwood99's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Suicide, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Minor: Grief, Racism, Mental illness, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

max63815's review against another edition

dark funny

4.0

The casual joking fatphobia in the book was disturbing especially coming from a doctor. Exactly the kind of attitude which results in worse care & outcomes for fat people when they need medical attention.

Overall I did enjoy the book though, and felt it did a good job communicating issues doctors in his position were facing. Curious to know how much (or little) has changed since its publication in 2017.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide

Minor: Fatphobia

toriepeters's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Abortion, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Child death

izzyvioletgrace's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

This book is a detailed insight into the life of a doctor. Informative and funny, yet shows the inhumane pressure doctors are put under. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gore, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Abortion, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

eloiseug's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

This book was simply incredible. The writing is funny, witty and sarcastic. The book gives you a real sense of all of the positives and negatives of being a junior doctor, along with a sense that you are really getting to know Adam as he was when he was practicing. Kay's writing is a triumph, and one of the best things I have ever had the privilege to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Infertility, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Child death, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, and Cancer

Moderate: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Religious bigotry and Abortion

kieransilika's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

It was crazy to see how the writers pain was masked under the words of a light heart. He talked about things that would be scary, challenging, emotional and overwhelming like it was normal. Kay managed to give a great insight into a life in the NHS - balancing a non-medic point of view with an informative counter part. It makes me angry and annoyed.

the writer works on a labour ward where he is stressed and overworked, and on the other side of that: black women are 4 times more likely to die during labour than white woman. This really highlights the awful dynamic between stressed workers and inadequate healthcare - a clear change needs to be made for employee and patient benefit.

overall the book was informative and intriguing and definitely a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Self harm, Infertility, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Addiction, Dementia, Abortion, Racism, Miscarriage, and Animal death

bookbird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Jan 2023: This must be my third or fourth reread of this incredibly special book. Kay is a master storyteller, and it's his finely balanced combination of light and dark that make this book so impactful. A must-read for anyone who has ever had even the briefest experience of the NHS.

Jan 2024: I don't think I'll ever be able to properly express how highly I recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, Addiction, Miscarriage, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Pregnancy, Abortion, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Cancer, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, and Vomit

rosalie362819's review against another edition

challenging funny informative sad fast-paced

3.0

Favourite quotes:
“It now seemed extreme and unreasonable in terms of what was expected of me, but at the time, I’d just accepted it as part of the job. The extra mile was the normal distance.”

“The depth of the lows is the price you pay for the height of the highs.”

“She bursts into tears, and out come all the will nevers, the crushing realization that forever is just a word on the front of Valentine’s cards.”

“The other thing I realize is that none of her many, many concerns are about herself; it’s all about the kids, her husband, her sister, her friends. Maybe that’s the definition of a good person.”

“He must realize we have the same chat every time, but it clearly doesn’t matter—he just wants to know there’s someone out there who cares. And actually, that’s a very large part of what being a doctor is.”

“I dress him again, look up to a God I don’t believe in, and say, ‘Look after him.’”

“You don’t cure depression, the same way you don’t cure asthma; you manage it. I’m the inhaler he’s decided to go with and I should be pleased he’s gone this long without an attack.”

“Medicine is the host who manages to keep you at the party hours after you first think about leaving.”

“It’s funny—you don’t think of doctors getting ill.”

“Think about the toll the job takes on every medical professional, at home and at work. Remember that all of them do an absolutely impossible job to the very best of their abilities. Your time in the hospital may well hurt them a lot more than it hurts you.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Cancer, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion

leonormsousa's review against another edition

challenging funny informative fast-paced

5.0

QUOTE

"So I told them the truth: the hours are terrible, the pay is terrible, the conditions are terrible; you’re underappreciated, unsupported, disrespected and frequently physically endangered. But there’s no better job in the world."

WHAT I ENJOYED

• the bigger message: no health care provider does what they do for money, they do it to help other people and for passion
• incredibly funny and witty
• very honest and raw, maybe a consequence of the descriptive and factual tone: the author does not try to paint himself or anyone else in a good or bad light
• great insights into the life of a medical care taker (doctor): 
  • the lack of working conditions
  • their struggles with balancing work with personal life
  • the pressure and the emotional weight they’re under
  • the feeling of unreadiness and how they grow as doctors with time
  • working in public vs private healthcare
• the side notes explaining the more medical/technical terms really help guide us common people
• the author narration in the audiobook is exceptional

WHAT I DIDN'T ENJOY

• if you’re not from the UK or are not familiarized with its health and education systems, there might be a couple of things that you don’t grasp as well. it's not something that affects your reading experience much and tbh a google search can probably solve it... 

RECOMMENDED TO

• everyone!
• i feel like it’s an essential read to better understand and appreciate the work of health care providers
• i imagine it might be especially interesting for other healthcare providers since they will probably relate to some of the experiences
• the only exception to my recommendation is if you have triggers connected to medical content & pregnancies (recommend checking the full list of TWs)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Blood, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Abortion, Child death, Drug use, Excrement, Infertility, and Medical trauma