Today is World Health Day and the theme of this year 2017 is Depression: Let's talk.
In Harry Potter, the dementors are metaphors for depression. Dementors are foul creatures that feed off happy thoughts and memories until that person is left with nothing but the most terrible experiences of their life. They force people to relive their worst memories, which is why Harry hears his mother's scream as she is killed by Lord Voldemort when he is on the train in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Dementors have no sense of sight nor do they show emotion in any way, they are soulless and faceless.
Whenever a dementor is near the world truly looks like a terrifying and lonely place, the lights go out and suddenly everything around is cold and ominous. Depression is much like this that it makes you feel as if you are alone and at times all you can see are the bad things in life.
"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself... soulless and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life."
What makes someone all the more vulnerable to dementors is if they have a lack of good memories, so that is why Harry is attacked on the train - he is seen as an easier target to a dementor as he has more bad memories than most people which means he is weaker to a dementor. Dementors feast off good memories in order to reduce its victim to a soulless creature like itself, therefore Harry is seen as easy prey which is why they target him so.
Nobody has ever been able to kill a dementor, it seems they are impossible to defeat by any physical means - they can only be driven away or temporarily warded off. This is very much like depression cannot be 'killed' or 'destroyed' - depression is something that can be controlled and managed but there is no one cure or easy method of defeating depression - unfortunately.
In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince the population of dementors increased rapidly as Cornelius Fudge says:
“And as if all that wasn’t enough,” said Fudge, barely listening to the Prime Minister, “we’ve got dementors swarming all over the place, attacking people left, right, and center…”
Dementors do not breed but they grow like fungi under certain conditions, the dementors grow rampant by flourishing off human despair, unhappiness and hopelessness. At this time in the series of Harry Potter the start of the second war against Voldemort had begun, and with war comes panic and fear. People are getting injured and killed in this war, it is a frightening time. And this is when the amount of dementors begins to increase, when the conditions for depression to grow in are stronger.
J.K. Rowling had mentioned that the dementors were inspired by the depression phase she went through before she became the successful woman the world knows, back when she was broke and homeless.
“Yes. That is exactly what they are. It was entirely conscious. And entirely from my own experience. Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced. It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it’s a healthy feeling. It’s a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.” - J.K Rowling when asked about dementors
However, in the book, she hints at what helped her break out of it. As we know, the only way to get rid of a dementor is to produce a patronus. And the strength of a patronus depends on the powerfulness of the memory you keep in mind at the time of conjuring it.
So, the best way to get rid o depressing thoughts is to replace them with happier ones, to focus on the good and not the bad.
I know that it easier to say that do it, but if you're fighting with depression please remember that you're not alone. You're a Potterhead. You're special! We are family! We stay together until the very end.
You may feel that you're happy memories may not be strong enough to cast a Patronus Charm but we will be by your side using our Patronus to protect you while you're fighting. Please remember that you're not alone in this fight!
