JK Rowling reveals how she suffered depression, and came back stronger

LONDON - J K Rowling has opened up about the period when she suffered acute depression.

In an appearance on the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’, the writer of ‘Harry Potter’ series said that she underwent major depression between the ages of 25 and 28, which she termed as ‘dark time’ in her life and a ‘terrible place to be.’

The author took the platform of the chat show to express her belief that society still suffers a stigma of openly speaking about depression and articulated the feelings of helplessness she went through in the interview.

“It is that absence of feeling, that absence of hope. You don’t know you can feel better. It is so difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t been there, because it isn’t sadness. Sadness is not a bad thing, to cry, to feel. And it was because of my daughter that I went and got help,” the Scotsman quoted her as saying.

Rowling told how hitting rock bottom was the foundation on which she could come back stronger.

“In the first Harry Potter book, Dumbledore says to Harry, ‘The happiest man alive would be able to look into the mirror and see himself exactly as he is.’ So I’d have to say I’m pretty close,” she concluded on an optimistic note. (ANI)