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On a diving board nearly two stories high, Wendy Williams was the picture of perfect control. Off the board, however, was another story. Starting in her teen years and continuing throughout college and her diving career, Williams, a winner of a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics, suffered from depression.
Williams was a top contender for a gold medal in the women's platform diving competition at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. However, she was forced to retire three months before the opening ceremonies because of a spinal injury. Two years later, her depression began to spin out of control. Despite living in a tropical paradise (Hawaii), Williams says she felt no joy. "Nothing was beautiful," she says.
"I felt deeply alone. I had tremendous bouts of crying. I was agitated and anxious, yet exhausted," Williams says. "I had basically stopped eating." On a day she did open the refrigerator, but she felt overwhelmed by the choices and fell to the floor crying. At the urging of a friend, she sought medical help.
Williams' physician diagnosed her with major depression and prescribed an antidepressant, which to this day she continues to take. At first, she says she resisted taking any medication, thinking that as an athlete she should be able to "tough" it out. However, she now credits the medication with "saving my life."
Many people who suffer from major depression feel exhausted, flattened and hopeless. Some even feel suicidal. Although depression can be treated effectively with medication, psychotherapy and exercise, those who suffer from it don't always reach for that help.
"Coming to grips with my depression was one of the most important things I've ever done," says Williams, who added that she suffered senselessly for 15 years before getting help.
About 19 million Americans suffer from major depression each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Yet, research indicates that one third of people suffering from a major depressive disorder do not seek treatment and only about one in 10 receive adequate treatment.
"It's a stealth disorder. It sneaks into people's lives and steals meaning from their lives or takes life itself," says John H. Greist, M.D., a senior scientist at the Madison Institute of Medicine, Inc., and clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
Depression is a medical condition believed to be associated with an imbalance in chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. Other factors that play a role in depression are heredity, personality and environmental factors, such as personal relationships or life events.
For a physician to make a diagnosis of depression, four or more of the following symptoms must be present, and at least one of the symptoms must be either a persistent sad mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in most activities, according to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). These symptoms must have lasted at least two weeks and be troublesome enough to cause a person distress or interfere with his or her work, social life or daily activities:
- Persistent sad mood
- Loss of interest or pleasure in most activities
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Restlessness or decreased activity that is noticeable to others
- Loss of energy or feeling tired all the time
- Difficulty in concentrating or making decisions
- Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
- Repeated thoughts of death or suicide
Exercise can help
If given proper care, about 80 percent of patients with major depression demonstrate significant improvement and lead productive lives, according to DBSA.
A combination treatment of psychotherapy and medication is the treatment of choice for severe depression because it is believed that depression is caused by a combination of biologic, social and psychological factors.
If you suffer from mild-to-moderate depression, exercise also can help. In cases of severe depression, exercise doesn't have as much of an impact, as Williams, who trained hours a day, can attest.
Greist, who has studied the effects of exercise in depressed patients, says it's not completely understood why exercise has such a positive effect in cases of mild-to-moderate depression. "It seems to work the same as medication," he says. That is, exercise may help return the brain's chemical balance back toward normal.
Exercise, he says, also has a psychological effect. It can make a person feel better, more mentally alert, better able to cope with stress and more energetic.
If you think you might be suffering from depression, talk to a doctor immediately.
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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