Sorry My Mental Illness Isn't Sexy Enough for You by Kay Garbett

Sorry My Mental Illness Isn't Sexy Enough for You

Lessons on Living With Personality Disorders and Mental Illness (that We Learned the Hard Way)

Kay Garbett, Katja Pavlovna, Peter Tyrer

Jessica Kingsley Publishers · Print & ebook · October 21, 2025

We've all seen the prettied-up image of mental illness.

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Who it’s for
Katja Pavlovna and Kay Garbett share hard-won lessons on living with personality disorders and mental illness.
Genres
Personality Disorders, Mental Health
Published
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, October 21, 2025

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About this book

We've all seen the prettied-up image of mental illness. That movie-perfect, 'single artful tear', 'gazing wistfully out of the window' situation that conveniently disappears when you need to do the laundry. Well, life with a personality disorder isn't like that. At all. Katja Pavlovna and Kay Garbett have been there, wading through stigma, discrimination, and all the worst bits of mental illnesses that people don't like to talk about.

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In this candid guide, they share the lessons they learned the hard way, to help you tackle everything from labels and disclosure to working with medical professionals and maintaining relationships. Whether you're newly diagnosed, have been living with a personality disorder for years, or are supporting someone who is, this book will help you to make it through the unsexy bits and build a solid strategy to make it work.

Labels and Disclosure

Katja Pavlovna and Kay Garbett share hard-won lessons on living with personality disorders and mental illness.

Come here for

  • Lessons on labels and disclosure
  • Guidance on working with medical professionals and maintaining relationships

Expect

  • Candid discussion of stigma and discrimination
  • Practical guidance for making a strategy work

Where it sits

Personality Disorders98%
Mental Health59%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Mental Health
  • Personality Disorders
Authors
Kay Garbett, Katja Pavlovna, Peter Tyrer
Publisher
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Published
October 21, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Mental Health