‘Perhaps the truth is that severe mental illness is just as frightening, just as stigmatising, just as much a taboo as it has always been . . .’

Over the course of her forty-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 who most need help are being failed by a system that cannot adequately care for them.

In On the Brink 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.

Candid, compassionate and, above all, hopeful, On the Brink is a story of troubled minds and how we try to heal them.