Mike Shooter, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has suffered bouts of depression throughout his career. He feels his personal experience of mental illness has helped his understanding as a psychiatrist. "I think it has helped knowing what it feels like from inside … I do think it has given me a kind of empathy," he tells Helen Crane, who also suffers with severe depression.
Derbyshire general practitioner, Stuart Bootle, has had diabetes for 20 years. His experiences as an NHS patient have influenced his NHS career, but the fact that he is a doctor specialising in diabetes does not mean he's a perfect patient. "I don't always look after myself all the time … like everyone, I want a balance in my life," he admits to Paul Smith, who also has type 1 diabetes.
Former general practitioner, Stephen Hempling, had multiple sclerosis diagnosed at 50. Once his diagnosis had been made, he found that other general practitioners would "shunt" patients with MS to him on the grounds that he could empathise. "The thing was that I liked seeing them because I liked talking to them," he explains to Harriet Gaze, who has MS.