Breakthrough: A Story of Hope Resilience and Mental Health Recovery

Explore mental health, wellness, and illness in this engaging and insightful discussion from a practicing psychiatrist who himself lives with a mental health condition

In Breakthrough: A Story of Hope, Resilience and Mental Health Recovery, World Health Organization Award Winning psychiatrist, former psychiatric patient and mental health advocate Dr. Ahmed Hankir delivers a unique and powerful insight into mental health and wellness, mental illness, mental health treatment, and the culture surrounding mental health by tracing his own personal recovery journey from impoverished and shunned psychiatric patient, to becoming an NHS Consultant psychiatrist.

In the book you'll explore many of the issues currently dominating the discussion of mental health and illness, including the impacts of poverty, unemployment, the cost of living crisis, homelessness, addictions, the use of medication to treat mental illness, the widespread prevalence of stigma, discrimination and racism in mental health and much more.

You'll also find:

• Comprehensive discussions about how to overcome shame and stigma to seek help if you're suffering from a mental illness.
• Explorations of how mental health practitioners and family members of people living with mental health conditions can themselves remain healthy as they care for others.
• Examinations of why mental health related stigma remains so stubbornly common in our societies and what we can do to combat it.

Breakthrough is a resource of hope and a companion for people suffering in silence who feel isolated and disconnected from society. It will also be of interest to mental health practitioners, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counsellors, addictions specialists, carers and clients. The take home messages are clear: living with a mental health condition is nothing to be ashamed about and, with the right support, recovery is a reality for the many and not the few.

About the Author

Dr Ahmed Hankir is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health Research in association with Cambridge University, NHS Psychiatrist based in London, Professor of Academic Psychiatry at the Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies (Florida, USA) and Public Education and Engagement Lead at the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, Disabilities and Human Rights at the Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham University.

Reviews

"An honest, engaging and most of all, hopeful book." —Adam Kay, BAFTA-winning, multi-million-bestselling author, TV writer and performer

"Warm, funny and devastatingly honest. An incredibly insightful story full of hope and resilience." —Dr Amir Khan, Sunday Times Bestselling Author and Resident Doctor for ITV’s Lorraine and Good Morning Britain

"The commonly held view that the widespread stigma attached to mental illness is the result of misinformation in the population has spawned a wave of well-meaning, but largely ineffective, public education campaigns. The fact is that stigma is largely the result of the reality of the lived experience of persons with mental illness, characterised by exclusion and violence, not least in the health care system. The battle against stigma must begin with placing the lives of humans at the heart of all conversations about mental illness and this book is an exemplar of such an endeavour. Professor Hankir offers an inspiring rebuke to the nihilism which prevails in society about mental illness through the courage, resilience and hope of his personal journey." —Vikram Patel, Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, USA

"Professor Hankir's incredible story describing his extraordinary experiences is an important contribution to the mental health literature. Essential reading especially for persons living with a mental health condition, their loved ones and carers and mental health practitioners." —Professor Tamsin Ford, Head of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge

"Embracing a world of life challenges, and guided by his expertise, both personal and professional, Professor Ahmed Hankir has given us a gift – a true Breakthrough. This timely book reminds us that mental health 'flaws' can be tools: that vulnerability and shared humanity can be deployed to heal our fellow wounded travellers." —Andrés Martin, MD, PhD, Riva Ariella Ritvo Professor, Yale Child Study Center and Medical Director, Children's Psychiatric Inpatient Service at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, Connecticut USA. Editor Emeritus, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Dimensions: 13.72 x 1.78 x 21.34 cm