William Lowell: Proof Of Overcoming Depression

Profile of William Lowell
Exhaustion. Inadequacy. Anger. So much anger. These are feelings William Lowell is very familiar with. Someone encountering William for the first time now might judge him to be a friendly, middle-aged man with a loud, bellowing laugh, and no problem making small talk with a stranger. They would laugh with him, never imagining the painful battle he fights every day. The ongoing battle of depression rages just beneath the surface of William’s unassuming exterior. His life is proof of overcoming depression and finding happiness.
For a large part of his life, William didn’t realize he was living with a mental illness. His feelings of inadequacy and anger stemmed from his childhood. “My mother worked because she didn’t like children.” Explained Lowell when speaking about his parents. His mother wanted to escape a life of washing, ironing, and caring for everyone else. Though she did care for her children, there was always a lot of hostility. Lowell also felt animosity from his father. As a sailor in the Navy, his father was out to sea when William was born extremely prematurely. The dire situation eventually led to his …show more content…
A lot of it had to do with my self-image. I didn’t make a lot of money. I felt bad because I couldn’t support my family without my wife working…As a result I was mean and angry. I suffered with a persecution complex, or inferiority complex; my self-image was really bad. Ultimately it can be overcome if you can give it up and realize that it isn’t true. I had to go through an intervention because I was not dealing with life very well. I was verbally abusive. There was a time we were in a van by Taco Johns and I just lost it. I don’t know if it was the children being young children or what, but I lost it and started yelling and screaming. It was bad. One day my bishop and a member of the stake presidency pilled me into an office and told me things needed to