Meet an APA Awardee: Ahmed Hankir, M.B.Ch.B., M.R.C.P

In July of 2006, Ahmed Hankir, M.B.Ch.B., M.R.C.P., woke up in a dilapidated house in a neglected neighborhood in Manchester, England—confused, isolated, and afraid. Some days earlier, as part of the escalation of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War, Israeli forces had bombed several locations in the southern Lebanese town where Hankir’s family still lived. A swirl of frustration, fear, and uncertainty triggered a mental health crisis—and denial of that crisis—had led Hankir, then a promising medical student, to this ramshackle state.

As Hankir recalled in his 2024 memoir, “Breakthrough: A Story of Hope, Resilience and Mental Health Recovery,” the insight switch in his mind abruptly turned on that morning. Even as the bridges in his Lebanese hometown were burning, he had proceeded to break bridges with his family and closest friends. Everything he had ever dreamed of had been flushed down the drain.

As he walked down Manchester’s Oxford Road later that day, Hankir had brief thoughts of throwing himself in front of an oncoming bus, but his Islamic faith—which forbids suicide—helped protect him. Eventually, he accepted his mental illness, got back on track, and with a newfound resilience completed medical school and his psychiatry residency.

Fast forward to May 2022 and a completely different morning for Hankir. “I remember that feeling of waiting backstage for the president of France to finish a speech, so I could give mine,” he said, referring to the moment he received the World Health Organization’s Director General’s Award for Global Mental Health during an event at the United Nations’ Place of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. “Despite my best efforts, I was unable to hold back tears.”

Hankir’s well-deserved recognition on the world stage came from his “Wounded Healer” program, which he discussed—and briefly showed off with a suite of powerful Hollywood soliloquies—during his Patient Advocacy Award lecture on Monday. Having completed his own journey from a “mental health services user” to a psychiatrist, patient advocate, and human being, Hankir wanted to tell others in his profession to embrace their vulnerabilities and stop living in denial. “Wounded Healer is an innovative anti-stigma intervention that combines physical activity, storytelling, spirituality, psychotherapy, and social connectivity to help medical students and doctors eliminate their stigma of mental illness.

Hankir noted that there was a study that found the one thing psychiatrists are least likely to share during patient conversations is their own personal mental health experience—and that’s the one thing patients most want to hear from their psychiatrist. “But how can you educate if you can’t engage,” he said, “and how can you engage if you can’t entertain?”

Hankir pointed out that while doctors are often perceived as invincible, they are actually overrepresented for psychiatric problems such as burnout, depression, substance use, and suicide. “According to the AFSP [American Foundation for Suicide Prevention], over 400 doctors die by suicide each year—yet they are among the least likely groups who will seek needed help,” he said, then spoke forcefully, nailing down each word: “Stigma ... is … killing … people.” ■