There's no cavalry that's going to come in and change your life for you

Health educator and ex-Love Island contestant Dr Alex George talks about his own experiences with loneliness ahead of the release of his new book Am I Normal? By HANNAH STEPHENSON

- By HANNAH STEPHENSON

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

He can count ADHD and 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 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, 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 Welsh 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 that 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 Llyr died by suicide.

"One of the things that I did, which I probably would do differently now, was I ended up kind of withdrawing. I felt like I needed to fix myself.