Bruce Springsteen opens up about depression

NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) -- New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen says he has been in psychotherapy for 30 years as part of his long-term battle with depression.

Springsteen, 62, told The New Yorker magazine there is also a link between his problems and his work, noting his famously long and energetic live stage performances are fueled by "pure fear and self-loathing and self-hatred."

"Look, you cannot underestimate the fine power of self-loathing in all of this," he told the magazine. "You think: 'I don't like anything I'm seeing. I don't like anything I'm doing, but I need to change myself. I need to transform myself.' I do not know a single artist who does not run on that fuel."

The magazine said the Grammy Award-winning recording star's father suffered from depression, was possibly bipolar and frequently refused to take his meds.

"My dad was very nonverbal -- you couldn't really have a conversation with him," Springsteen said.

"My parents' struggles, it's the subject of my life," he added. "It's the thing that eats at me and always will. My life took a very different course, but my life is an anomaly. Those wounds stay with you, and you turn them into a language and a purpose."

Springsteen is married to his fellow E Street Band member Patti Scialfa. They have three children.