Amy Winehouse's father had break-down after her death

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Page last updated at 11:44 GMT, Monday, 23 July 2012 12:44 UK

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By Adina Campbell
Newsbeat reporter Mitch and Amy Winehouse

500,000 Amy Winehouse singles have been sold since her death last year

Mitch Winehouse says he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) months after his daughter's death.

It's exactly a year since Amy Winehouse was found dead from alcohol poisoning at her home in North London.

"I realise now that the first four or five months after her death, I was in shock," said Mitch Winehouse. "I had a bit of a breakdown actually."

The 27-year-old singer had a history of drug and alcohol problems.

A verdict of misadventure was recorded after the inquest heard the singer had 416mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

"I had to see a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist said I was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder," he admitted.

"I was having flashbacks. This is the stuff our soldiers are facing every day.

"I've managed to dispel those images and now I remember Amy as she always was, even during the dark times."

'Amy's legacy'

The Official Charts Company says since her death more than 1.7 million copies of Amy Winehouse's recordings have been sold.

Mitch Winehouse says a hologram of his daughter isn't likely though.

"I didn't want to go and see the Sinatra one which his daughter did," he said.

In terms of how me and my family handled Amy's situation, we did absolutely everything we could short of locking her in a room which you can't do

Mitch Winehouse

"I won't rule anything out though. We do need to raise money for the foundation.

"But everything we do has to be done tastefully and we certainly don't want to rip anybody off, that's for sure.

"Everything we do we want to add to Amy's legacy not detract from it."

Three years before she died, Mitch Winehouse said his daughter had beaten her drug addiction but admitted she was still struggling to control her drinking.

"The last six weeks of her death, she didn't drink for five weeks and five days of that period," he said.

"A typical pattern of someone who's moving towards total abstinence is that they don't drink for large periods and then drink an enormous amount."

Amy Winehouse's father had break-down after her death

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