James Middleton has bravely opened up about his battle with clinical depression over the years in a new feature on theDaily Mail. The younger brother of Kate and Pippa Middleton revealed that he struggled to communicate with his friends and family over the difficult period, and also spoke about his struggle with dyslexia and being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
James bravely opened up about his battle with depression
In the article, he wrote: "I couldn’t communicate, even with those I loved best: my family and close friends. Their anxious texts grew more insistent by the day, yet they went unanswered as I sank progressively deeper into a morass of despair." He added that he had come forward to speak about his experience with mental illness in support of Prince William, Kate and Prince Harry's mental health charity, the Heads Together campaign. He explained: "I feel compelled to talk about it openly because this is precisely what my brother-in-law Prince William, my sister Catherine and Prince Harry are advocating through their mental health charity Heads Together."
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Speaking about his progress, he concluded: "Bit by bit, shafts of sunlight started to penetrate the gloom. My family were proactive in helping me enormously — it has been an education for all of us to understand the complex nature of depression." Writing about whether he thought his heightened public profile as a close relation to the royal family was a factor in his depression, he added: "People have asked me, too, if my public profile has made it harder for me. Would I have become so depressed if I hadn’t been subject to the pressure of public scrutiny that comes with my association with the Royal Family? The answer is, I believe I would. But I wouldn’t have found a voice or an outlet for my story if it hadn’t been for the people I’m related to."
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