I’ve had this on my shelf for years. I’ve started it a few times. After finishing Joanna Cannon’s brilliant book about mental illness, Will You Read This, Please? I wanted more. So I picked this up again. It was time to give it a proper go.
Similar to Cannon’s book, this is a compilation of short writings about people who suffer from a variety of mental illnesses. In these pages you will meet patients who have eating disorders, anxiety, OCD, borderline personality disorder, and several others. Each chapter is based on in-depth interviews Tucker carried out with people who really have these disorders, and she has written each section based on the insight she gathered.
I liked the different voices she evokes for each section of the book. She does a fantastic job of taking the information she has been given and creating a realistic portrayal of a person who suffers from a particular mental illness, and doing so in a way that makes it easier to step into their shoes, however briefly, and gain the beginnings of an understanding of what it’s like to be them. It strives to answer questions we all have about how certain mental illnesses manifest – the parts that seem unfathomable to those on the outside. Why would someone who is so thin their body is ill still feel that they shouldn’t eat? Why would someone hurt their body to soothe mental anguish? So many questions are given the beginnings of an answer here, and it’s an intense experience.
I didn’t find this book to be as successful as Cannon’s – some of the sections were harder to read (partly content, but also partly how it was presented), and it also felt heavier and darker somehow. Perhaps it’s the length of some of the sections, or perhaps it’s just the way they were written, but I found this a little harder to stick with. But I did, and I am glad that I put in the effort. It’s another book that shows the outside world what it looks like from inside a mentally ill brain, and that view is incredibly important.
There’s a lot here for those who know someone who suffers from a mental illness (particularly if it’s one of those featured here), and for those who have suffered from or do suffer from a mental illness themselves. There may be recognition, a feeling of, “that’s how to put that feeling into words.” It’s powerful, and I hope that more people will read this, and that it will help to create more safe spaces for experiences like these to be shared and met with sympathy and understanding.
“In the waiting room, I see a lot of people who I could tell had real, serious Problems. They deserve to be here. I don’t. I’m a fraud. A lazy wreck seeking an excuse for her incompetence. I’m useless.” – Abby, 24
Having conducted more than 100 hours of interviews with 60 British women aged 16–25, Nancy Tucker explores what it’s like to suffer from serious mental illness as a young woman. With raw honesty, sensitivity, and humor, That Was When People Started to Worry examines real experiences of anxiety, self-harm, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, binge-eating disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Giving a voice to those like Abby who can’t speak out themselves, Tucker presents a unique window into the day-to-day trials of living with an unwell mind. – Goodreads
Book Title: That Was When People Started to Worry
Author: Nancy Tucker
Series: No
Edition: Audiobook/Hardback
Published By: Icon Books Ltd.
Released: May 13, 2018
Genre: Non-Fiction, Anthology, Mental Health
Pages: 256
Date Read: May 15-18, 2023
Rating: 6/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.03/5 (278 ratings)