Harry Potter's Guide to Depression

Note: There are spoilers in this post for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. If you haven't read it, there might be something seriously wrong with you. I recommend seeking medical attention, or your nearest library, as quickly as possible.

Over the last two days, my various social media has been blowing up with lovely tributes to the truly talented Robin Williams. The news of Williams' death is so tragic, and I have vacillated between feeling uplifted and sad by the prominence of articles and posts about mental health. Understanding and dealing with mental health issues like depression and anxiety is really important to me personally, and I'm glad to see that it is being taken seriously right now. I am, however, very sad that we often don't become more aware of important issues like this until it results in someone's death. It is my great hope that our society can develop a better understanding of depression and anxiety and lift some of the stigma for those who suffer from it.

Over the next few posts, I would like to share some things that have helped me in my own attempts to improve my mental health. My goal in doing this is to have a conversation about something that we, as a society, don't talk about very openly.

I read a facebook post that called Depression a silent killer. I would agree with that because most people that I know who have experienced depression have largely kept it to themselves. However, I would take it a step further and say that depression can kill you even before you're dead.

J.K. Rowling has said that she based her dementors, the creepy hooded guards of the wizard prison Azkaban, on her own battle with depression. First reading the Harry Potter books, I never thought about this, but Austin and I have been listening to the audiobooks the last few months. We just finished The Prisoner of Azkaban, and I have to say that I think Rowling has captured depression brilliantly.

Dementors suck the happiness out of the very air around them, but they do more than this. In a dementor's presence, you feel like you will never be happy again. They make you think of the worst parts of yourself and your experiences. Eventually, a dementor will turn you into someone unrecognizable. They will suck out your very soul and leave you a shell of your true self.

Of course, in the Harry Potter series, dementors can be driven away by a powerful charm. The Patronus charm uses the caster's happy thoughts and memories to stave off the soul-sucking dementors. I can say from experience that depression does not work that way. When I felt my worst in my year of graduate school, I actually had more to be happy about than to be unhappy about. But this didn't make me feel better. It just made me feel like I was unworthy of all the good things in my life.

However, I have to say that I have a new favorite scene in Azkaban, one that I actually find great strength in when thinking of my own experience with anxiety and depression. Harry was able to produce a fully-fledged corporeal Patronus that drove away hundreds of dementors only because he had glimpsed a future version of himself doing just that (it's complicated). When Hermione expresses her amazement that Harry was able to perform such a complex piece of magic at the tender age of 13, Harry tells her "I knew I could do it this time because I'd already done it."


That is basically my own personal Patronus Charm. There is no simple thinking happy thoughts or chocolate consumption to combat my anxiety or depression. It is what it is. But it is not permanent. I have always been happy again. I know I can get through it this time because I've already gotten through it once.