Dr Alex George admits he worried people would doubt skills as a doctor if he shared his mental health struggles
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Dr Alex George has candidly confessed he was worried people would doubt his capabilities as a doctor if he shared his mental health struggles.
The Love Island star, 30, went through a period of time during medical school where he said he felt “lonely and isolated”.
But Dr Alex, who recently said his first Christmas without his brother Llŷr would be “difficult”, didn’t know who to turn to for fear it could affect his career.
Speaking exclusively to OK! online as he collaborated with Nuffield Health for their new mental health questionnaire, Dr Alex said: “I had a period in time when I was struggling in med school. I felt quite isolated when I was inn placement down in Truro.
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“I just didn’t really feel like I could talk about it and it felt very… it felt almost uncomfortable to discuss it and I think that’s a real, real shame and the reason that came down to was I felt that, ‘would people think I could be a doctor if they knew I was struggling?’
“I think it’s very sad to think it’s not that many years ago that happened.”
Dr Alex revealed he began to notice a change in himself as he explained: “For a period of time I felt I was a bit lost and lonely and I was struggling for a bit, but I luckily managed to make a change before it turned into depression or anything but I definitely knew I was feeling not myself.
“I felt disinterested in doing the things that I enjoy and I think that was just a real shame. I’m really a high energy person – I’ve always been that way so I realised I needed to make a change so I changed my routine and doing positive things like exercise, walking and speaking to family and stuff like that.
“Sharing in how I felt was really, really important to me.”
The Love Island star added: “I think it was a real feeling of: ‘Oh I’m just not myself’. I think you just notice, if you notice you’re not doing the things you usually enjoy, you don’t have the energy to do those things and you’re feeling just a bit fed up I think that’s an early indicator that something’s not right.”
He added: “What I would say, looking back, is just speak to people sooner. It took me a long time to chat about it and I could’ve felt much better sooner if I just talked to someone. So don’t be afraid to, there’s no shame in it whatsoever.”
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Dr Alex, who recently revealed he’s leaving his job in A&E to become a GP, explained how he began to make small changes to improve his wellbeing.
He said: “I became more isolated, wasn’t exercising, eating bad, my sleep routine was terrible and I didn’t have any kind of self care routine at all.
“I realised this wasn’t gonna help so I made all these little changes, got outside with natural light, started walking habits and things like making sure my sleep routine was good, speak to people, started making plans to spend time with friends and things and it made a big difference to me.”
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