10 Things You Didn't Know About JK Rowling
9. Her Depression Inspired The Dementors
Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book while she was still in her twenties. At the time, she was trying to cope with raising her young daughter, as well as navigating a recent divorce. These are two of the contributing factors that lead to a period of clinical depression. It's this struggle that inspired the soul-sucking Dementors, and it makes a lot of sense when you hear what Rowling has to say about the mental illness:
My depression was characterized by a numbness, a coldness and an inability to believe you will feel happy again. All the colour drained out of life.It's tough to imagine such a joyous and magical book springing from such a dark place, but it was likely a form of escapism for the writer (and it's not as if the Potter series doesn't contain some dark undercurrents early on).