A revitalised Mitchell Johnson has vowed to put his poor showing in the recent Ashes series to bed in this summer's Test series against Pakistan and the West Indies.

Johnson was named player of the series on the tour to South Africa in April but lost form, most notably his devastating ability to swing the ball into right-handers, in the early Tests against England.

While tabloid newspapers aired the grievances of his mother Vikki Harber and called for chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch to ready his axe, Johnson's form continued to nosedive.

The 2009 ICC Player of the Year was so low on confidence after posting match figures of three for 200 in the second Ashes Test that he fully expected to be replaced by Stuart Clark.

But as the selectors showed faith, Johnson's form slowly recovered and on Monday he was ready to open up for the first time about the difficulties he faced while touring England, admitting the off-field drama did get the better of him.

"I guess it (the form slump) started off with the personal side of things - that really probably did get to me," Johnson said.

"I was probably denying it as well at the time, and copping it from the crowd didn't help."

"It was pretty amazing, it was something I didn't expect with all the media, how much there was on the personal side of things, and the crowd, just everything was full-on."

"It got technical as well because I was thinking about it, but in the end it was just more of a mental thing."

The fact that Hilditch and company opted to persist with the out of sorts left-armer is something Johnson is still coming to grips with.

"I definitely thought I wasn't going to play the Edgbaston Test," he said.

"I was quite nervous about it, but I'm glad I got that opportunity again, it shows you just can't take anything for granted."

"Who knows where I could have been now, I could have been back playing state cricket, which might not have been such a bad thing."

Johnson believed that conquering the whole experience had made him a mentally stronger person.

"I block things out pretty well normally but I think it was just the Ashes, the whole hype of it, and the personal things that came out," he said.

"Mentally I have learnt to be a lot stronger. I've just got to concentrate on what I'm doing out in the middle."

"It was a good learning curve to go through all that and hopefully I've passed all that and next time I can be mentally stronger when I go over (to England), or even throughout these Test matches."

Johnson received a glowing endorsement from captain Ricky Ponting, who expected the burgeoning all-rounder would build on the belief he had been steadily regaining since the end of the Ashes.

"I think a lot of it over there (England) was a bit more to do with him just being a little bit down on confidence early in the series," Ponting said.

"Having the new ball, expecting him to swing it around corners, it didn't work for him."

"He was under pressure right from the start, I think the way he fought his way back through that series was great and I think the way he's bowled in the one-day games since then has been terrific."