World Mental Health Day: Breaking the Silence, Bridging the Gap
Every year on October 10th, World Mental Health Day invites us to pause, reflect, and speak openly about the invisible battles so many face. For me, this day is more than a calendar marker—it’s a reminder of a chapter in my life that reshaped how I understand suffering, resilience, and the urgent need for compassionate care.
A Personal Reckoning: Postpartum Psychosis
After the birth of my child, I experienced postpartum psychosis—a condition that arrived like a storm, swift and disorienting. It wasn’t just the sleepless nights or the hormonal shifts. It was the terrifying detachment from reality, the intrusive thoughts, the sense that I was losing myself. As a GP, I had read about it in textbooks. But living it was something else entirely.
I was fortunate. I had a support system, access to care, and colleagues who treated me not just as a patient, but as a person. Still, the stigma lingered. Even in medical circles, mental health struggles—especially maternal ones—can be met with discomfort, minimisation, or silence. That silence is dangerous.
The GP’s Lens: Listening Beyond the Symptoms
In my practice, I see patients every day who carry burdens they struggle to name. Anxiety masked as irritability. Depression cloaked in fatigue. Trauma buried beneath physical complaints. Mental health doesn’t always walk through the door announcing itself. It whispers. It hides. It waits to be invited in.
My own experience taught me to listen differently. To ask not just “How are you?” but “How are you coping?” To notice the hesitation before a patient says “I’m fine.” To create space where vulnerability feels safe, not shameful.
Bridging the Gap: From Awareness to Action
World Mental Health Day is a call to action. It’s not enough to raise awareness—we must dismantle the barriers that keep people from seeking help. That means:
Normalising conversations about mental health in every setting, from GP surgeries to parent groups.
Equipping healthcare professionals with training that goes beyond diagnosis to empathy and trauma-informed care.
Ensuring access to timely, specialised support—especially for perinatal mental health, which remains under-resourced.
Sharing stories, like mine, to remind others they’re not alone and recovery is possible.
A Message to Patients—and Colleagues
To anyone struggling: your pain is real, and help is available. You are not weak. You are not broken. You are navigating something profoundly human.
To my fellow GPs and healthcare workers: let’s be the kind of clinicians we needed when we were at our lowest. Let’s lead with compassion, curiosity, and courage.
World Mental Health Day is not just about statistics or campaigns. It’s about people. It’s about me. It’s about you. And it’s about the promise that no one should have to suffer in silence.
