International auctions for Head First by Dr Alastair Santhouse

Atlantic Books has acquired UKBC (ex. Canada) rights to Head First: A Psychiatrist’s Stories of Mind and Body by Alastair Santhouse. Publishing Director for Non-Fiction Mike Harpley bought the book in a four-way auction from Jonathan Conway at Jonathan Conway Literary Agency. North American rights were sold in a six-figure deal to Caroline Sutton at Avery, Penguin Random House, by George Lucas at InkWell Management, on behalf of Conway.

Head First chronicles Santhouse’s many years treating patients and his exploration of the ways in which our minds exert a huge and underappreciated influence over our health. They shape our responses to symptoms that we develop, dictate the treatments we receive, and influence whether they work. They even influence whether we develop symptoms at all.

Written with brutal honesty, deep compassion, and a wry sense of humour, Head First examines difficult cases that illuminate some of our most puzzling and controversial medical issues–from the tragedy of suicide, to the stigma surrounding obesity, to the mysteries of self-induced illness. Ultimately, he finds that our medical model has failed us by promoting specialization and overlooking perhaps the single most important component of our health: our state of mind.

Alastair Santhouse is a consultant psychiatrist at both The Maudsley Hospital and Guy’s Hospital in London. He was Vice Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry between 2013 and 2017, and in 2016 served as President of the Psychiatry Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. His clinical work focusses on the intersection of physical and mental health.

Mike Harpley said, ‘It’s clear from Head First that Alastair is not only a first-class clinician but a truly gifted and empathetic writer. Through his clinical case studies, he makes a convincing case that it’s impossible to separate physical and mental health. After you’ve read it, you won’t view your ordinary visit to the GP in the same light again.’