Story Of Butler's Struggle Against Depression

Butler (Instagram @geezerbutler)

JAKARTA - In an interview with NPR 'Bullseye With Jesse minimum' recently, legendary bassist Black Sabbath, seafarer Butler revealed about his past struggles with depression.

"Well, I don't always experience depression. Only attacks occasionally do me. At first, when things got really bad... At that time no one ever said anything about depression or anything like that, and people were afraid to say that you might be depressed because you automatically thought you would be taken to a mental hospital and locked up forever," Butler started.

"So you can't talk about it with other people if it happens. One day I experience very severe depression and I go to the doctor and he says, 'Oh, go to the pub and drink a few glasses. Or take the dog for a walk or something. You're going to be fine.' And it's like, 'No, I won't be okay. It can't be like that.' And it keeps going on," continued the bassist.

"And that just happened, I think in the 1990s. I lived in St. Louis at the time, and I had a bit of nervousness. And I went to this doctor, this regular doctor, and I just explained everything to him and he told me that I had clinical depression and he gave me Prozac."

"And after six weeks, I ended up getting out of depression. And I thought, 'Oh, yes. This is what I am' should feel like that.' And since then, I've been fine."

Butler reiterated that he "can't talk about" his depression with anyone. "And when I'm depressed, people think I'm gloomy and miserable," he said.

"And they will say, 'What's wrong with you? What's going on with you?' And nothing bad happened. So they said, 'You already have all the money you want, you already have a house, you have a car, and everything. What's wrong with you?

"You can have everything you want in this world, but when you enter those dark and sad days, nothing is important. All you think about is, 'So I'll just end it or whatever.' And fortunately I got out of there. "