'If it wasn't for psychiatrist, I wouldn't be a sitting here'

Comedian Ruby Wax shares her long-term struggles with mental health as she backs a brand new campaign to inspire and help others

Ruby Wax has never been anything but brutally honest and her mental health journey has been as unfiltered as her humour. Now, the comedy icon and mental health advocate is opening up like never before - her critically acclaimed book and live tour, I'm Not As Well As I Thought I was, reflects on her deeply personal journey both physically, around the world, and mentally, in treating her own mental illness. It has taken her to silent retreats, swimming with whales and to psychiatric hospitals.

In her no-nonsense style, Ruby, 71, doesn't hesitate to credit one critical element for her survival.

"If it wasn't for a psychiatrist, I wouldn't be sitting here," she confesses.

It's also why she's joined famous faces including Stephen Fry and Jo Brand to back the award-winning mental health campaign #ChoosePsychiatry, aiming to draw attention to the valuable role psychiatry plays in healthcare, and encourage more students to take it up. "Serious mental illness is a real disease, and you can't just pray for it to get better," explains Ruby, who found psychiatric care to be a lifeline in the darkest of times.

Despite her onstage confidence, Ruby's own journey through mental illness has seen her vulnerable and at rock bottom, culminating in two psychiatric hospital stays, the most recent in 2022. The medication she has been taking, she says, has been essential. "If I wasn't on medication for the last 30 years, I don't know what condition I'd be in. It saves your life. It's like saying you're a diabetic, then trying to survive without insulin - you're not going to make it."