What made me write a book?

One question I’ve been asked more than any other is: why did you write this book?

I’ve wanted to write a book for as long as I can remember.

Long before I became a psychiatrist, I was fascinated by people and the stories they carried. Every person you pass in the street is living their own story. We are all the main characters in our own stories, yet we only ever experience it from one perspective.

One of the greatest privileges of my job is being invited into someone else’s story. Every patient arrives with one, but it unfolds over time, piece by piece as trust grows. As psychiatrists we piece those chapters together, trying to understand what has happened and how we can help write the next chapter.

The more I worked, the more I realised that psychiatry and storytelling weren’t so different. Both are about understanding people. Both remind us that perspective changes everything.

Then I turned forty.

Like many people, I had the inevitable wobble. It made me ask myself a simple question: if not now, then when?

So I decided this would be my year of saying yes. That simple decision led to opportunities I never expected, from an impulsive 24 hour trip to Ibiza to conversations with authors I have admired for years. Most importantly, it gave me the courage to finally write the story I’d been carrying for so long.

Next month, that dream becomes reality when A Bridge Across Minds is published.

I hope it gives readers a rare glimpse into the world of psychiatry, helps build understanding of mental illness, and reminds us that behind every diagnosis is a human story waiting to be heard.