Duchess of Cambridge’s brother James Middeltone quietly suffered from depression. The poor man suffered in silence as his mental health deteriorated day by day.
He described his feelings as
“Each night sleep eluded me. A cacophony of imaginary noises rang in my head. It felt as if ten different radio stations were competing for airtime and the din was ceaseless and wearying.
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. 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”.
Right after his sister’s marriage to the Royal British family, the man was suddenly in the public eye. And he was not at all prepared for the same. He said that he was being judged as is he successful or not. This sudden shift from anonymity to stardom is something which affected him dearly.
During his childhood days also he suffered from dyslexia. The poor boy recalls
“From a young age I was curious about taking things apart and building them again. I made mini steam toys. I assembled IKEA flat packs without the instructions, intuiting exactly how the pieces fitted together, just from a drawing of the finished product.
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But when I was called on to read out loud from a book in front of the class, letters would jump around, strange words would form; I’d read a different story from everyone else. I was terrified of ridicule and ashamed of being a slow learner. I hid my beginner’s reading book inside a more advanced one so none of my classmates knew I was so far behind them.
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I also began to feel the pressure of not being able to write properly. Words became indecipherable squiggles because I didn’t know how to spell them (I often still don’t). And I became isolated by my dyslexia because I’d lose out on extra-curricular activities while I was catching up on academic work. Permanently, I lagged behind”.
Only some time ago the man was diagnosed with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This explained many things for him
“why I’m restless, energetic and impulsive; why I start tasks but can’t complete them; why sometimes I seem impatient and don’t listen because my mind is galloping off on some flight of fancy”.
Soon after his diagnosis he started taking mental help and attended many sessions on the same.
He also added
“I recognise, too, the role my dogs — Ella, Inca, Luna, Zulu and Mabel — have played in my recovery. Ella, particularly, has been my constant companion for ten years and she’s been with me to all my therapy sessions. In her own particular way, she has kept me going”.
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Now he strongly believes in
“It’s OK not to be OK”.