What is 'Break Point'?

'Break Point' is a zine aimed at helping stressed and burnt out doctors in the Northeast of England. It was previously available on the website 'break-point.Info' (April 2023-February 2024) where you could either buy it or get a free download. There were 674 downloads, and 25 doctors bought a paper copy. 

FREE DOWNLOAD HERE.

This zine supports the work of the doctor mental health charity "Doctors in Distress.' If you want to access the service, or to give to support their work you can do that HERE

More details about zine development, and images follows.

This booklet began with a GP, Dr Morris Gallagher, taking photographs about the stress of working from home. Dr Richard Duggins, a consultant psychiatrist/medical psychotherapist who has been treating GPs with stress and burnout in the Northeast for the last 15 years, wanted to reach a bigger group of doctors than seen in his consulting room.  We also thought thought that these unique images might help people to reflect on their own experiences of managing difficulty. We decided to make a cheap, easy-to-read booklet/zine to reach as many doctors as possible.

The booklet was designed as a paper copy to raise money for 'Doctors in Distress,' but it quickly became clear that most doctors wanted a free download rather than making a purchase. 674 doctors downloaded it and 25 bought a paper copy. 

Collaborators included, a PR consultant, marketing consultant, a zine designer, professional photographers and students working with the Open University, a group of GPs, hospital and community doctors, and 'Doctors in Distress.'

15 photographs were created by Dr Gallagher in 2020 to show psychological reactions and adaptations to stress. They were staged in a bedroom, where he consulted online as a doctor for several months. The room was emptied to create ‘settings’ that express his and other doctors’ feelings about working from home during the pandemic. For example, two photographs, made from neighbours’ delivery boxes and empty drinks bottles, were made to illustrate the idea of ‘Displacement’ as a coping activity.  Other photographs illustrates ‘depression,’ and ‘hope.’ You might read other things into these images.

We roll forward to 2022. The original images were shared with another photographer and  reviewer at Red Eye. They suggested printing and shaping the original images to see if they enhanced their impact and visual appeal. Dr Gallagher did this and feedback on Instagram showed that people identified more with the new 'more dynamic' images than the originals. These and other images from a series about stress during the COVID-19 pandemic were included in the booklet/zine.