Ruth Kidson

Ruth Lever Kidson was born in London and trained as a journalist before going to medical school. After qualifying, she worked in a variety of medical settings and specialties before becoming interested in complementary medicine. It was while she was working as an Army medical officer that she trained as a medical hypnotherapist and started to research a number of other therapies.

After leaving the Army, she wrote her first book, Acupuncture for Everyone, and started to write columns for a number of magazines and journals. For several years she was seen regularly on television as the 'medical expert' in a programme called 'Problem Page', and she has also been heard on the radio, including a 10 part series on complementary therapies.

More recently, she trained as - and now works as - a humanistic counsellor. Her most recent book, Say Goodbye to Sleepless Nights, sprang from her awareness of the negative role insomnia plays in many people's lives.