Diablo Cody had the "hardest time ever" when she went to university.

The screenwriter is behind movies including Juno and Young Adult.

Although she is happy with her life now, she hasn't always been so content. She struggled when she first left home, explaining Elizabeth Wurtzel's book Prozac Nation was one of the things that helped get her through.

"I read this when I was 19 and away at university having a really difficult time probably the hardest time I've ever had. I'd lived in the same house since birth and had such an established identity and group of friends, and then I went away to a new place where I didn't know anybody and it was just not the right fit for me," she explained to the March edition of UK Elle magazine.

The tome is an autobiography in which Elizabeth describes her own struggle with depression. It spoke to Diablo and made her realise there was nothing wrong with the feelings she was experiencing.

"I fell into a deep depression because I felt like it was a personal failure that I wasn't doing well. This book was comforting because it talks candidly about depression and medication, which was a taboo at the time. It helped me feel as if I wasn't alone," she explained.