Greta Thunberg's Eco Crusade Saved Her From Severe Depression After Asperger's Diagnosis, Says Dad

While 16-year-old Greta Thunberg has received both accolades and criticism as she spearheads the future of climate change, all her parents care about is that her zeal to bring about awareness saved her from severe depression.

Greta’s father Svante Thunberg was recently interviewed as part of a special edition of the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, which was guest-edited by his daughter. During the show, he revealed that even though he found the idea of Greta leading the climate change campaign and publicly chiding Donald Trump to be a “bad idea” and a “waste of time.” But soon he realized that launching the “climate crisis” campaign “saved her” from the long bout of depression she had been living with before the campaign.

“We thought it was a bad idea, just the idea of your own daughter sort of putting herself at the very front line of such a huge question like climate change. You wouldn't want that as a parent,” Thunberg said. “We said: 'We would not support it. If you're going to do this you're going to do it by yourself.”

But before it all began, Greta had been suffering from severe depression since she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at the age of 11. In 2016, she stopped eating and talking to others for three months and even refused to go to school.

“She didn't speak to a single person. She could only eat her in her own home,” her father explained.

A miracle occurred when Greta started skipping school every Friday to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament- her health drastically improved. “During her first sit-in outside the Swedish parliament, she began answering journalists' questions as when they approached her. On the third day, she ate a vegan pad thai dish someone had handed to her,” he reminisced. “I cannot explain what a change that meant to her and to us. And she could do things she could not have done before. I can see Greta is very happy from doing this.”

For him, the fact that Greta has been nominated for a Nobel pales in comparison to the satisfaction he feels knowing that Greta is happy. “I'm pleased that we chose to listen to her,” he said.