“During the day I’d drag myself up and go to work, then just stare with glazed eyes at my computer screen, willing the hours to tick by so I could drive home again,” James wrote.
“Debilitating inertia gripped me. I couldn’t respond to the simplest message so I didn’t open my emails.”
“I couldn’t communicate, even with those I loved best: my family and close friends,” James continued.
“I know I’m richly blessed and live a privileged life. But it did not make me immune to depression. It is tricky to describe the condition. It is not merely sadness. It is an illness, a cancer of the mind.”
James went on to reveal that after months of suffering, and even contemplating suicide, he decided to do something.
“I packed my dogs into my car and, telling no one where I was going, drove to a wild part of the Lake District I’ve loved since I was a child.”
“In the days before, I’d finally confronted the fact that I couldn’t cope any longer, that I wasn’t all right; that I desperately needed help. And this recognition led to a sort of calm: I knew if I accepted help there would be hope. It was a tiny spark of light in the darkness.”
James is speaking out in an effort to remove the stigma associated with mental health.
His sister Kate, brother-in-law Prince William and Prince Harry, have been active advocates for raising awareness around mental health.
