JK Rowling Says She Contemplated Suicide

Personally, I feel that it was not right on Rowling's part to make such comments in public. Here's my take on it: http://anirudhbhati.com/2008/03/24/jk-rowling-considered-suicide/

Springtime / Easter is a dangerous time. If you suspect someone is that depressed, don't schedule an appointment. Don't give them time to mull over a terrifying prospect like that. Drag them to a clinic kicking and screaming. Be around them all the time. Talk about them with their friends and family. Put the pieces together. Each person might have one piece of the puzzle. The scale of consequences becomes flattened for them - the effort of buying a coffee is the same as pulling a trigger.

In the Introduction to his book The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression, Eric Maisel, PhD writes: "Creators have trouble maintaining meaning. In the act of creation, they lay a veneer of meaning over meaninglessness and sometimes produce work that helps others maintain meaning. This is why creating is such a crucial activity in the life of a creator: It is one of the ways, and often the most important way, that she manages to make life feel meaningful."

Her loss would have been the literary world's gain.

You know what....

One would think that such experiences would make her more sympathetic to the struggles of people like the editor of the lexicon she's been trying to stomp out of existence. Is this new revelation supposed to make us see the billionaire as someone like us? I will see her as someone like us when she grants Steve Vander Ark the permission and acknowledgment he deserves. Until then I can only assume that a ridiculous level of success has made her mean.

I agree with Chris Mathews /Victory is accomplished when our soldiers come home

I am not sure if I sent this before/If they can get the goods on #9/ why can't they get the goods on #43?

It seems most of the news has been muzzled/one hardly ever hears any news about Iraq/NEVER any news about the soldiers tha have commited suicide/or those with post truamatic stress snydrome/they take 3 stories and rotate them all day

"Do it now, she should." ----wilburbudd
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No, Yoda, NO!

Oh, please...who hasn't contemplated suicide in the darkest days of their life. Another media non-story.

She was depressed when she was poor and struggling.

Now she is world famous and super-rich, and she is
much happier and more-fullfilled.

Sounds like the recipe for true happiness to me!

There's The Secret, folks!

I'VE BEEN EXTREMELY DEPRESSED ON OCCASION TOO...

But never so badly that I considered taking my life. Death always seemed much worse than anything I was feeling, although who knows? But if you believe in reincarnation (as I do and as I suspect Rowling does), the prospect of having to do it all over again, plus the terrible karma that you get from suicide, tends to give one added pause....

SO WHAT? She didn't, and she is a billionaire now. Do it now, she should. Now that would be a statement.

Amazing world we live in, earn billions by writing crappy books which are then made into crappy movies with sub par acting.

Reminds me of 'Its a Wonderful Life"---think about how different the world would look if JK had killed herself. Brave of her to admit it now. From Wkipedia, one example of her impact:

The most notable trend attributed to Harry Potter has been an increase in literacy among the young. Anecdotal evidence suggesting such an increase was seemingly confirmed in 2006 when the Kids and Family Reading Report (in conjunction with Scholastic) released a survey finding that 51% of Harry Potter readers ages 5"17 said that while they did not read books for fun before they started reading Harry Potter, they now did. The study further reported that according to 65% of children and 76% of parents, they or their children's performance in school improved since they started reading the series.[43] Charlie Griffiths, director of the National Literacy Association, said "Anyone who can persuade children to read should be treasured and what Rowling has given us in Harry Potter is little short of miraculous."[44] British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a long time fan, said, "I think JK Rowling has done more for literacy around the world than any single human being."[45][46]

Who cares?

Personally, I feel that it was not a wise thing to make such comments in public. Here's my take on it: http://anirudhbhati.com/2008/03/24/jk-rowling-considered-suicide/

I always hated being referred to as a "muggle" by smug, elite witch and wizard classes.

She looks terrific and has given so much happiness to so many. I'm glad she decided not to.

There is a great deal of misconceptions regarding depression. It is seen as something negative and to be avoided at all costs. Depression is a necessary experience for a catharsis of the soul.
A person goes through life with certain expectations of whatever nature, based, we think mostly on lack knowledge of certain facts; or unrealistic expectation because of lack of experience; thus in turn being full of illusions in terms of reality and possibilities.
Eventually reality comes at the person like a freight train at fast speed; and that train is something we crash against like a hard wall. We are forced to look realistically at what is around us, and take stock of where we are; so depression arises first turned into anger; which turned inward becomes sadness, which turns into a dark swamp where we experience a sensation of pain and drowning that is almost unbearable. Thoughts of suicides then arise in the mind of many laboring under the feeling of being overwhelmed; many succumb, and wish to end it all, as Ms. Rawlings did. Some succeed. Those who make it through are better for the experience, if they survive it, and experience it with no drugs or electrical shocks, like Senator Tom Eagleton of Vice-presidential fame and George McGovern"s five minutes running mate, who dropped him due to the very situation of his being treated for depression. Appparently, either we did not know about depression, then; or were so afraid of it, we thought a person who suffered depression was crazy.
Abraham Lincoln went through many bouts of depression; depression seems to a requirement for development and growth as a whole person. Depression affects the mind in such a way that one's mental health may be threatened; but it is not a negative. It is actually a self-correction mechanism built in within our minds to adjust the mind to become acutely aware of circumstances and then to be able to go on from there. Note what Ms. Rowlings says about it: "I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that." Actually, when I decided to use this quote I thought she meant: "what I got out of that." But actually, by her own admission she got a lot out of it, and so do most of us. Enough said.