Linda Gask is a psychiatrist, academic and writer who recently retired from clinical practice after 30 years working in the NHS. She is Emerita Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry at the University of Manchester and has lifelong experience of depression and anxiety, which she manages with medication and talking treatments.
It’ll come as no surprise to anyone that I got to know Linda initially through Twitter, and then in 2015 by reading her memoir of depression “The Other Side of Silence”. This incredibly accessible and powerful book is a great introduction to mental health from someone who has spent a lifetime considering it from (at least) three perspectives (patient, clinician, researcher).
I spoke to Linda in Edinburgh last Summer just as she was preparing to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress. Our conversation will be of interest to anyone concerned about the mental wellbeing of health professionals and the general public.
The public face of the [psychiatric] profession, was one of being that slightly superior expert, rather than someone who might actually understand what it felt like. I wanted to provide a different voice
– Linda Gask, Jun 2017
