Depression and Harry in OotP

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 110725

Psyche wrote :
"Most people who go through a patch of depression as a result of life
 events recover as those events are lifted. I think Harry's gone a 
little past this point - I think his depression has begun to feed on 
itself."

Del replies :
What exactly makes you feel that ? I personally get the feeling that
if he wasn't permanently called a liar, and if he could fight LV, then
Harry's condition would improve dramatically. The way I see it, Harry
keeps feeling bad because the events that make him feel bad are
*never* lifted. LV is still out there, the WW keeps refusing to
believe Harry, Umbridge keeps doing her best to make his life
miserable. Harry is attacked from everywhere (including his own
classmate in his own dormitory !), so of course he's not being overly
happy.

Psyche wrote :
" Although I would be worried about his tendency to blame himself and
his unwillingness to talk about his feelings "

Del replies :
I don't see that Harry tends to blame himself particularly. He gets
paranoid upon hearing that he's possessed by LV, but then who wouldn't ?
As for being unwilling to talk about his feelings, I'd say he's just
like everyone else on that one : none of the kids seems to be willing
to talk. Except maybe Cho. Neville in particular has always kept
everything to himself, and nobody ever seemed to find that strange.

Psyche wrote :
" It didn't just go away after being rescued from the Dursleys - he
continued to have depressive feelings, and continues to have bouts of
it throughout the book."

Del replies :
After being rescued, he went to live in a Dark house, where he spent
his days fighting Dark Magic. LV was out there, but those who were
fighting him refused to include Harry in the fight. He was threatened
with expulsion from Hogwarts. And so on. No wonder he was still
feeling low ! And his circumstances became barely better when he went
to Hogwarts and they steadily got worse as time went by. After a
while, many people at school joined in the unhappiness, both among the
kids and the teachers. Umbridge made life miserable for a lot of
people, and she put a special emphasis on ruining Harry's life. I'm
not surprised at all that he would feel bad about it. But I argue that
it was only those nasty circumstances that made him feel bad, not mild
depression feeding on itself.

Del