Former Love Island star and mental health campaigner Dr Alex George has delivered a powerful critique of how Britain deals with loss, urging a national shift in attitude. The 34-year-old, who tragically lost his younger brother Llŷr to suicide in July 2020, argues that the pressure to 'move on' from grief is deeply harmful and unrealistic.
The Impossible Task of 'Getting Over' Loss
Dr Alex, who served as a government youth mental health ambassador, says the common British narrative surrounding death sets people up to fail. "In this country, we tell people that when someone dies they'll get over it eventually," he explains. "We try to move on immediately after the funeral. If you're still sad months, or heaven forbid years later, it makes you think, 'What's wrong with me?' There's nothing wrong with you."
He is adamant that he will never 'get over' the death of his 19-year-old brother. "Do you ever want to get to the place where you're like 'I'm fine he's dead'? I'm certainly not going to ever get to that place," he states, adding that never getting over someone dying is normal.
He also challenges the widely cited 'five stages of grief', describing them as a theory derived from studies on the terminally ill that didn't match the "shock and utter horror" he felt. For him, grief is a "fluctuant state of experience" with good and bad days, rather than a linear path to acceptance.
A Downward Spiral and a Late Diagnosis
Struggling in the aftermath, Alex found himself in a destructive cycle. "I was either working really hard or drinking," he admits. He used alcohol to suppress his grief, which manifested in depression, overeating, and a lack of self-care. At his lowest point, he weighed 21 stone and suffered a breakdown.
A pivotal moment came three years ago in his barber's chair, when he looked in the mirror and didn't recognise himself. This sparked a change: he stopped drinking, started walking daily, and began to turn his life around.
This journey also led him to seek help for lifelong symptoms. In September 2022, he was diagnosed with ADHD, followed by a diagnosis of OCD in 2025. He is also currently being assessed for autism. He believes he used alcohol for years to "medicate" himself to feel normal in social situations and later to numb his grief.
ADHD: From School Struggles to a Medical 'Superpower'
Looking back, Dr Alex sees how undiagnosed ADHD affected his childhood, causing concentration issues and sensitivity that made him a target for bullies. He recalls one teacher saying, "I think we need to lower our expectations of Alex a little bit," a comment that caused significant pain.
He is passionate about improving diagnosis rates, countering claims that conditions like ADHD are overdiagnosed. "If I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was six, seven, eight years old I would have had a very different experience at school," he says, believing it would have prevented his alcohol use and led to happier teenage years.
Conversely, he describes his ADHD as a "superpower" in his former career as an A&E doctor at University Hospital Lewisham during the pandemic. The fast-paced, high-dopamine environment suited him perfectly, whereas a standard office job would have been a struggle. "We need to empower anyone with differences," he argues. "It's like being planted in the wrong field versus the right field."
Through his campaigning, his four bestselling books—including his latest, Am I Normal?—and his podcast, Dr Alex continues to advocate for a more compassionate understanding of both grief and neurodiversity in the UK.
