Sydney:
Australia’s former Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed he took medication for “debilitating” anxiety while in office, in a media interview published on Friday.
Morrison, whose Conservative coalition lost power in May 2022, told The Australian newspaper that the anxiety he experienced in office was “debilitating and agonizing.”
The 55-year-old evangelical Christian governed for four years managing crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the widespread Black Summer wildfires of 2019-2020.
“I think it just built up,” Morrison told the newspaper.
“It was a very stressful period,” he said, citing long hours, the pandemic and difficult relations with China, which imposed trade barriers on key Australian exports during his tenure.
“You’re made of flesh and blood and that’s why it would start to impact you.”
A doctor in Canberra prescribed Morrison medication for anxiety, the newspaper said, also citing excerpts from his new book to be published in May, “Plans for Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness.”
“My doctor was surprised I had lasted this long before seeking help,” Morrison wrote.
“Without this help, serious depression would have set in.”
Anxiety could have a profound personal impact, Morrison said.
“You fear the future and can’t get out of bed. It can shut you down mentally and physically. It steals your joy and can damage relationships. I know this from personal experience.”
Morrison, an avid supporter of the fossil fuel industry, announced in January that he would be leaving politics.
As Australian leader, he notably angered France when he negotiated a closed-door deal to acquire American and British nuclear submarine technology, abruptly abandoning a long-standing agreement with Paris.
And he secretly appointed himself to several ministerial positions during the Covid crisis, without informing his cabinet, incumbents or the public.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated channel.)
