'Make this a better world'
Some of the nation's best known writers, thinkers and opinion formers are supporting our Choose Psychiatry campaign.
Award-winning actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry and writer and strategist Alastair Campbell are among those who are urging medical students and Foundation doctors to choose a career in psychiatry.
See what they've said below.
Video comment from Stephen Fry
Extra quote from Stephen Fry
“Young people preparing for medical careers are realising more and more that the most exciting frontier in medicine is the human mind. But its study is more than just an intellectual challenge, it is a pathway to a life in psychiatry – the specialism that fights on the front line in our war against mental illness.
“It’s vital and rewarding work. I’ve encountered many doctors who have regretted, later in their careers, that they did not choose psychiatry, but I have never met one who regretted that they did. Because despite what you might think or have heard, psychiatry daily solves problems, saves lives, helps, and heals.
“I know I can say with absolute truth that psychiatry saved my life at its lowest moment. I don’t believe I would be here today if it were not for the psychiatrist who rescued me. The smartest and most caring minds are needed in this field and – happily – the trend towards choosing psychiatry as a speciality has lately been upward, upward, upward.”
Quote from Alastair Campbell
“My mental health has definitely improved in recent years and much of that is down to the psychiatrist I saw over a number of years, David Sturgeon.
“It took time and patience on both our parts, but I am in little doubt that I could not have made the progress I have made without him.
“He helped me to see far more clearly issues that had been causing me psychological problems for years, and he was and remains someone I can always turn to when depression or anxiety strike.
“Whatever else is going on he always has genuine concern for me and my family. I know there are countless people like me who have benefited from his professionalism and his wisdom, and we need more people like him in our surgeries and hospitals.
“Whenever I hear of a medical student choosing psychiatry I feel happy knowing that everyone who does choose psychiatry has the chance to make this a better world.”