No one's going to change your life for you

There's no cavalry coming to save your life, says the Welsh health educator and ex-Love Island contestant, as his new book is published. By Hannah Stephenson

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(Dr Alex George David Spencer/PA)

MENTAL health campaigner, former A&E doctor and onetime Love Island contestant Dr Alex George, who was born in Carmarthen, has had enough neurodevelopmental conditions of his own to be able to talk with authority.

He can count attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) among them and is currently undergoing assessment for autism. In addition, alcohol misuse, grief, work addiction, poor self-image and loneliness have featured in his raft of experiences.

"It sound's like I'm a b***** walking list, doesn’t it?” the genial health educator muses, chuckling, but is not afraid to recount the episodes which led him to stop drinking alcohol, take control of his diet, and get therapy and medication, in his new book, Am I Normal?

Drawing on his own experiences, he explores what society's view of normality is and how it can stand in the way of true wellness and happiness.

His own diagnoses have brought him some peace and answered questions as to why he struggled from childhood, the facial tics he had at 11, his inability to focus, juxtaposed by obsessions, worries about 'what if', anxieties in social situations and huge rejection sensitivity.

The doctor and broadcaster, who appeared in Love Island in 2018 but chooses not to discuss his private life, has appeared on shows including Good Morning Britain and Loose Women to speak about mental health, and until 2025 was the government's UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador (a role which has now been dropped).

He was diagnosed with ADHD in September 2022 and with OCD last year. Now 34, he confesses 2024 was one of the loneliest years of his life, having never come to terms with his post-Love Island existence, focusing on the challenges of the pandemic, and the intense grief he experienced when his 19-year-old brother Llŷr died by suicide.