“I was suicidal”—the consultant psychiatrist opening up the conversation on postnatal depression (BMJ, 18 August 2025)

Summary

When consultant psychiatrist Suhana Ahmed gave birth in 2013 she had a long difficult labour followed by little sleep for months as her baby struggled with colic and reflux.

“I can see now there were a number of things that contributed to my postnatal depression (PND),” says Ahmed, who is deputy chief medical officer at West London NHS Trust. “But by the time Daniel was 6 months old I was suicidal. I had written suicide notes and I was probably days away from ending my life.”

Talking about this personal and deeply traumatic experience has not been easy—but she has found that when she shares what she has been through, other doctors open up about their own challenges.

Even for those working in psychiatry, there remains stigma around doctors having mental health problems, says Ahmed, who is also a north west London higher trainee leadership and management tutor and Royal College of Psychiatrist London division chair.

But she strongly believes that talking honestly about difficult experiences helps challenge the idea that “doctors should be invincible,” shifting the culture so that colleagues and future generations of doctors can be supported during difficult times.