'I explored some difficult stuff, the stuff about suicide is obviously. it's a profession where you don't talk about these things and potentially seeing on the screen for the first time stuff you tried to bury away 10 years ago. in February: 'Obviously lots of doctors and nurses have watched the show, and I had lots of positive messages, but I also had a couple of messages from doctors saying, 'Sorry, I couldn't watch it, it was too triggering and it was too real.'

Kay reflected on the reaction he's seen since the show debuted on the BBC in the U.K.

It's not just Adam who struggles mentally in the series as his Senior House Officer (SHO) Shruti Acharya, played by Ambika Mod, is also battling depression. I'm all about admitting when you're struggling and getting help, that's always the right thing to do.' 'Since then I've been very outspoken about doctors getting help. 'By talking about it I no longer wake up in the middle of the night back in that theatre. 'But the attitude of medicine is you don't talk about this stuff, but there's some stuff you have to talk about because otherwise it doesn't leave you and so I started talking about it, and then I managed to partially. 'It was actually mostly at night that I'd get that, I'd just wake up back in that operating theatre, my heart going 300 beats a minute, in a cold sweat. 'I couldn't deal with it, and you know we show in the show these sorts of PTSD flashes that the character has, and that was very much drawn from. 'To the extent that the first time my husband knew why I left medicine was when I read out from my diaries on stage just before my book was released. Kay, who has adapted his own work for the small screen, explained what it was like to relive that moment through his book and in the show, saying: 'I was very, very bad at talking about and dealing with it. BBC/AMC/Charlie Clift 'This is Going to Hurt' Helped Adam Kay Deal with his PTSD After Being a Doctor Left: Ben Whishaw as Adam Kay in 'This Is Going to Hurt', Right: Adam Kay, the author of the book who spoke to Newsweek about adapting it for the small screen.

This will hurt adam kay