LEIGH Griffiths often talks about how his career has been one long battle about proving his doubters wrong, but nothing could prepare him for the biggest battle of his life against ‘major depression’.

The Celtic striker has opened up for the first time on his struggle with his mental health, a struggle that saw him being deprived of doing the thing he loves most for the best part of seven months as the stepped away from football before he - in his own words - did himself ‘serious harm’.

The 28-year-old made his long-awaited return in a Celtic jersey on Wednesday evening, getting himself on the scoresheet in a 45-minute friendly run-out against SC Pinkafeld here in Austria, and there is no doubt that he is now in a much better place. He recognises though that the battle to stay there will be an ongoing one, but like most of the challenges he has faced to this point, he is more than up for the fight.

“It was major depression,” Griffiths said. “People might say, ‘what’s he got to be depressed about?’, but there are stressful times and it wasn’t the best of times for me. Other people are going through it as well and it’s the same for anybody, if you are going through depression then you need to open up and speak to people. There are people who can help.

“I did try to battle though it. I had to. It’s my job. I can’t just phone up one day and say I’m not training.

“But that’s why I was grateful to the manager [at the time, Brendan Rodgers]. He saw it and he gave me the time off I needed. I’m looking forward now.

“I never asked for time off. It was Brendan Rodgers who said I needed to get my mind right. So, I have to thank him for that because if I had kept playing I would have done myself serious harm.

“My mental health wasn’t right. A lot of things were playing on my mind. So, I just had to step away from football at that time.

“It hasn’t been there for most of my life. It had been there for maybe a year, a year and a half. It started off slow but then it started to snowball towards the end.

“Brendan saw it in training and he knew I wasn’t right. So, I have taken time off. It has been longer than I expected. But I am just glad to be back pulling the shirt back on again. Physically and mentally, it hasn’t been a cake-walk.

“But it is not just my football life. I’ll have a long life after football. I’ve got kids to look after and family to look after. It is a long life after football and I had to make sure I was right.”

READ MORE: Celtic: David Turnbull still on radar amid Paddy McNair interest

If it was previous manager Rodgers who helped start Griffiths’ recovery, it has also helped him to now have Neil Lennon to lean on for advice, who himself has had mental health issues in the past.

“I think what he’s come through was 10 times worse than I have, but if I ever need someone to speak to he’ll always be there on the end of the phone of if I go to his office,” Griffiths said.

“During the time I had off I had to speak to a lot of people and a lot of stuff to go through.

“I’ve got to thank my friends and family because if it wasn’t for them I’d still be struggling.

“They stuck with me, just like Celtic have as well. The gaffer has come in and given me the challenge to go again.

“I want to repay him and repay the club and the fans for all they have done for me.”

Of course, in this social media age, Griffiths has received his fair share of stick along with the well-wishes that have also come his way. But for anyone who doubted he would ever make a return to football, his message was delivered in a familiar defiant tone.

“Other people thought I would never get back and I was never going to play again, but everyone close to me knew that I was coming back,” he said. “I’ve got a huge gratitude to Celtic because, without their help, I wouldn’t be back.

“The manager came in and said, ‘this is a fresh start for you, get back doing what you do best.’ I’ve started off well and I just want it to continue.

“I’ve handled all this stuff in my career – people saying I can’t do it, I can’t hack it. So, this is just another hurdle that I’ve had to overcome.

“There’s a lot of people who thought I’d never play football again. I just want to shut them up now.”

With his focus renewed on the positive, Griffiths now hopes that one of the good things to come out of his situation will be that others who are struggling with similar issues see his example and decide to open up about their own struggles.

“I’ve had a lot of people who have messaged me on social media and came up to me and said it’s good to see you back and good to see you open up,” he said.

“That’s what you need to do. If you don’t open up and tell people what’s wrong, then then it starts to affect your life.

“That’s what happened with me for a long, long time. But I opened up to people and while I wouldn’t say I’m clear of it now, I have a clearer mind and I am focused on what I want to do.”