Duchess Kate’s brother opens up about the “angst of loneliness” in emotional post
The Duchess of Cambridge’s brother has always been candid about his struggle with depression, and now, the 31-year-old has given an insight into how he deals with the illness.
James Middleton has previously described depression as an “illness, a cancer of the mind”.
Now, taking to Instagram, the youngest of the Middleton clan has opened up about his life.
“I’ve been in that angst of loneliness, where you’re really alone in the universe,” he wrote to his 127,000 followers.
“Luckily for me I had my dogs.”
Earlier in the year, the entrepreneur penned an open letter for the Daily Mail, as he revealed his fight against depression.
“It is tricky to describe the condition,” he wrote, “It is not merely sadness. It is an illness, a cancer of the mind.”
It was a rapid decline, as Middleton found his mental health suffering over the course of 2017, with each day being consumed by the illness.
“It’s not a feeling but an absence of feelings. You exist without purpose or direction,” he explained.
Middleton also suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and when combined with depression, it became increasingly difficult for him to get through day-to-day life.
After taking as much as he could handle, he escaped from his routine and drove to England’s Lake District with his dogs in December of 2017.
In the hopes to leave his dark days behind, he came to the conclusion that he needs help, and that was when his slow but meaningful recovery began.
“I knew if I accepted help there would be hope. It was a tiny spark of light in the darkness.”
Middleton, who runs his own marshmallow business called Boomf, has suffered from a few knock-backs as his company has experienced a loss of over $5 million in three years.
He is now working as a guide for Pippa Middleton’s husband James Matthews at the Glen Affric Lodge near Loch Ness – a hotel in the Scottish Highlands.
If you are troubled by this article, experiencing a personal crisis or thinking about suicide, you can call the Depression Helpline at 0800 111 757 or visit depression.org.nz.