The Skeleton Cupboard: Stories From a Clinical Psychologist - by Tanya Byron

I have a long-standing interest in psychology and psychiatry and haven't taken the time to thoroughly enjoy a non-fiction book for a long time. Browsing bookshelves and online bookstores, I came across The Skeleton Cupboard and immediately knew it was the one to ease me back into reading non-fiction. I was definitely correct. 

The Skeleton Cupboard is Byron's memoir of her journey into clinical psychology. Byron recounts her years as a trainee, providing a searingly honest account of her younger self: the naivety, the lessons learnt, inexperience, and her remarkable patients.

Byron's stories of her patients are not from one patient, but woven from her experiences treating various patients in the course of her training. This makes the book read more as a fiction than a non-fiction but does nothing to deter from the poignancy of Byron's work.

Byron tells us about five of her patients: Ray the sociopath, Imogen the young girl who has already seen enough of the world's evil, Mollie whose mind is telling her that her body is too fat, Harold a survivor succumbing to the throes of dementia, and Tom who is HIV positive. 

Each patient is unforgettable in their own way, and Byron masterfully ensures that they are more than a mere collection of case studies. Through recounting her interactions with these patients and providing insight into her personal struggles, she allows us to see a different side of mental health and the profession.

Her relationship with her supervisor, Chris, I enjoyed. It was real and as with the rest of the book, searingly honest. The Skeleton Cupboard is a fascinatingly insightful account of an emotional roller-coaster. It is both sad and beautiful.

I found the book so easy to read, so engrossing that I finished it in half a day. Halfway through the book I had purchased my own copy online.  

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Genre: Non-fiction

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Date of publication: 23rd April 2015

Pages: 320

My rating: 5 out of 5

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