On the Brink Stories of harm and healing from a lifetime in psychiatry

As Featured on BBC Woman's Hour ‘ Deeply thoughtful and compassionate’ Susie Orbach, author of In Therapy ‘ A book with the power to move and inform . . . [Campling] is an expert in “ intelligent kindness” .’ Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know 'Fantastic new book from Penny Campling - 5 stars' Dr Kate Lovett Over the course of her 40-year career, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Penelope Campling has worked with patients from all walks of life, from survivors of abuse to ICU doctors struggling under the strain of Covid-19. She has seen many positive changes in how we approach mental health – and yet she is increasingly troubled by the state of our health services. Too often those suffering from serious mental illness are being neglected, locked away, even abused. In Don’ t Turn Away Campling takes us into the therapy room, offering unique insight into how we treat those in distress. She shows us how the progress made in a more optimistic era of psychiatry is fast being eroded; how our struggling healthcare system often fails those who need our support; and how crucial it is in today’ s uncertain world that we do not turn away.

Penelope Campling is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. For twenty years, she ran the NHS personality disorder unit in Leicester, and she is the co-author of Intelligent Kindness: Rehabilitating the Welfare State (CUP, 2020). Now retired from the NHS, she continues to lecture and campaign, and works in private practice. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, she has been supporting clinicians on the frontline in intensive care units.

CONTENTS Introduction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi 1 Out of Sight, Out of Mind.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 The Cabinet of Curiosities.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3 Terrible Secrets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 4 Experts by Experience.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 5 Locked In.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 6 Who’ s in Charge?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 7 Hope and Despair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 8 Facing Up to Suicide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 9 Give Sorrow Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 10 Hidden Histories.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 11 A Global Trauma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 12 Moral Injury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 13 A System of Exclusion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Epilogue: Losing Our Way.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Acknowledgements.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Notes.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Further Reading and Resources.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297