Rebecca Lawrence

This interview was part of the free public exhibition Moonstruck: 500 years of mental health which ran at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 14 June 2019 to Spring 2020. 

Rebecca Lawrence is a consultant psychiatrist, specialising in addiction and pain management. She works in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital where she is also being treated for her own mental health issues. Her health problems, which began with puerperal depression, have been diagnosed as bipolar affective disorder. This has resulted in hospitalisations, drug treatment and electroconvulsive therapy. In this interview Rebecca discusses her mental health and the difficulties in being simultaneously a psychiatrist and having a psychiatric illness.