Posted on 03/23/2008 4:01:49 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LONDON (AP) ― Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling said she contemplated suicide as she suffered from depression before her rise to success, according to an interview with a student journalist.
The British writer said she had suicidal thoughts in her mid-20s, when she was a single mother and struggling to establish a literary career.
"Mid-20s life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted," Rowling said, according to an interview posted online by student journalist Adeel Amini.
Rowling said in the interview, parts of which were published in Edinburgh University's Student magazine, that she sought help from doctors and spent nine months receiving cognitive behavioral therapy, according to Amini.
"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable,'" Rowling was quoted as saying.
Amini provided The Associated Press with an audio file of his 29-minute conversation with Rowling.
Christopher Little, Rowling's London-based agent, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rowling has previously said she suffered depression before her Harry Potter series brought her international success. She has acknowledged that characters featured in the series called Dementors were inspired by her illness.
The author has said she sought medical help following her separation from first husband, Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist.
Amini told the AP in an e-mail that he had carried out the interview in Edinburgh last month. He said Rowling granted him an interview after a chance meeting several months ago in a coffee shop in the city.
"I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never," Rowling was quoted as saying in her interview with Amini. "What's to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that."
Fortune magazine ranks Rowling, who wrote seven Harry Potter novels, as one of the richest women in Britain, with an estimated wealth of $1 billion.
“I do wish Ms. Rowling would stop talking and just enjoy her royalty checks privately with her family.”
I think it is very kind of Jo Rowling to reveal the serious problems she overcame, so other young people with such problems will realize they should persevere until happier days arrive.
That’s another way of looking at it, of course.
Rodney Dangerfield had a lifelong problem with clinical depression. He then found out in middle age that not everyone felt that way and that his symptoms were brought on by a chemical imbalance. He still had to deal with bouts of depression, but at least he could control it with medication.
I think her depression had more to do with the end of the marriage and the stress of single parenthood than the fact that her writing didn’t take off immediately.
But to make an ignorant and unjustified statement about depression as an earlier poster did is ...
well, both ignorant and cruel.
Medication can do wonders and I don’t care what some recent studies say to the contrary because I have seen the good results in my own family.
But, yes, you do have to be persistent to find the right meds for you.
Depression is something people can snap out of on their own...
It’s a decision...
"Come out of the closet, Tom Cruise." On the other hand, stay in there...
Mark
An ignorant and unkind statement. The brain of a depressed person fails to produce the right chemicals, much as type one diabetes is caused by the pancreas being unable to produce insulin.
A-Men, it's amazing how much some people think they know but in reality do not know.
Sorry, but If I were to paraphrase Chevy Chase on SNL: Jane...
But I won't.
Rodney smoked pot every day as a way to self medicate.
There are many famous people that suffered from depression including Abe Lincoln.
“But, yes, you do have to be persistent to find the right meds for you.”
Personally I recommend harmless natural substances such as tri-methyl-glycine ( TMG ) and 5-hydroxy-tryptophan ( 5-HTP ) over any prescription drugs.
Though you might like this:
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
....Mark Twain
Kinda like suicide.
Seven Reasons Not to Commit Suicide
And finally, the one that may be the most effective persuader of all:
That’s crap.
What's crap? Can you be specific?
1 and 2 are reasons enough. However, 3 through 7 are, as fatima says, crap.
8) No matter how miserable life can be, it's still several orders of magnitude better than being eaten by worms.
I don’t think that list is very helpful. It sounds like prevention thru guilt and shame, something that many people who are suicidal do not need.
Many people commit suicide because they want to escape the unbearable pain that they feel, many times due to the fact that depression can skew their view on their worth and their problems and they lose hope.
Getting help for depression can sometimes get that person around to the next corner.
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