All In The Mind (novel)
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - All In The Mind (novel)
OR:
All In The Mind (novel) on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

''All in the Mind'' is a 2008 novel by
Alastair Campbell Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster and activist known for his roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director ...
, the former Director of Communications and Strategy for the
British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
. The book is Campbell's
debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
and draws heavily on his own experiences of depression and alcoholism. The story concerns a few days in the life of a
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
, and a selection of his patients. Campbell has admitted that the story is partly autobiographical, although in an article in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' on 30 October 2008 he wrote, '. . . though it is by me, it is not about me, at least not all of it.' The book received a mixed reception.


Synopsis

Set over a period of four days, the novel explores
mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
through its central character, Professor Martin Sturrock, described as 'widely viewed as one of the best psychiatrists in the business', and several of his patients. Among these are an alcoholic politician, a traumatised burns victim, a depressed manual worker, an adulterous barrister turned fitness fanatic and a Kosovan refugee who has been raped. Each patient tells his or her story in a consultation with Sturrock before they are later revisited in their individual subplots. Over the course of a weekend it becomes apparent that the brilliant but overworked Sturrock is as desperate for help as the people he is treating, and following an encounter in a seedy
brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
the story ends for the Professor on a busy London street.


Background

In 1986, while working as a political correspondent for the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'', Campbell was admitted to hospital in Scotland, where he had travelled to cover a visit to
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
by then
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
leader
Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
. He was detained by the police for his own safety after being observed behaving oddly. During a stay as an inpatient at the BMI hospital in Glasgow, he was given medication to calm him, and realised that he had an alcohol problem after seeing the psychiatrist. He later returned to England, where his condition continued with a phase of depression."Cracking Up".
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
television documentary written and presented by Alastair Campbell. Broadcast Sunday, 12 October 2008. As he recovered from the breakdown, he began work on a story about a pop star driven to the point of breakdown by a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government press secretary, and after making handwritten notes during a holiday in France, he word processed them when he returned home. However, the file containing the book was accidentally erased. He did not revisit the novel again until he was recording a 2008
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
documentary about his breakdown. His inspiration for ''All in the Mind'' came while cycling past a cemetery in
Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...
where a funeral was in progress. In 2008 Campbell wrote, 'There seemed to be hundreds of mourners. I started to think about how many people we all touch in our lives. I started to wonder whether the person being buried knew how many people he had touched. By the time I was home, I had a basic idea, a small number of characters and a couple of possible endings. I started to write that evening.' He went on to say that although none of the events or characters from his previous novel had survived in All in the Mind, many of the themes have. 'The limits of the human mind. Depression. Pressure. Breakdown. Family. Fracturing relationships. Forgiveness.' Campbell has admitted that All in the Mind is autobiographical, '. . . in that all the characters, their words, deeds and backgrounds, are all from somewhere inside my mind, and my mind is a product of my experiences.'


Reaction

Reaction to ''All in the Mind'' was mixed. Of the book, The Times said, 'a serious subject addressed with compassion, intelligence and sensitivity...this is an emotionally engaging and thought-provoking book', while the actor
Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
said, 'I have rarely read a book where the agonies and insecurities of mental trauma have been so well chronicled'. However, Sahmeer Rahmi, writing for ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' took a diametrically opposing view stating, "Because Campbell has spent his life barking orders – broadcasting not receiving – he has none of the skills needed in a novelist: curiosity, observation, interest in the human condition or in another human's opinion other than how it impacts on himself or his career." Byron Rogers of ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' wrote, '. . . whatever the book's merits as a study of depression, I found it difficult to distinguish between the characters for all the supplied detail, and in the end this was fatal. And it was such a good idea.' Frontier Psychiatrist said, '. . . the plot as a concept is not a terrible one, but the central problem is that Campbell's prose basically lacks the dexterity to convincingly render his characters' mental states on the page."


References


External links

* * * {{Alastair Campbell 2008 British novels Novels by Alastair Campbell Novels about mental health Hutchinson (publisher) books 2008 debut novels