During training season, world-class diver Wendy Williams managed to hold at bay an enemy she didn't even know she had, using exercise and extraordinary focus. In the off-season, though, she'd feel moody, sad, overwhelmed.
The enemy was depression, something for which she's been in treatment since 1994. And Williams, who won a bronze medal in the Seoul, Korea, Olympics, is now part of the "Minds in Motion" depression awareness campaign, co-sponsored by the Women's Sports Foundation and Pfizer. Other Olympians, including soccer star Julie Foudy, skier Heidi Voelker and basketball all-star Teresa Weatherspoon, are also part of the campaign.
Salt Lake seemed like the right place to get the message across, said Williams, who joined the media campaign more than a year ago and has talked to thousands of people.
The message is quite simple: Depression can happen to anyone, even Olympic and professional athletes. In fact, one in six Americans will experience it at some point.
But it's also treatable with medication, psychotherapy or a combination. And exercise can help.
Williams didn't know she had a problem until a spinal injury drove her out of diving just months before she was to compete in her second Olympic Games.
She moved on with her life. Almost. The problem was that, busy as she stayed, she felt worse and worse.
Living on a beautiful island in Hawaii with a successful massage therapy practice wasn't enough. She obsessed about suicide, though she never attempted it. Her roommate forced her to see a doctor, who suggested she needed medication for her brain chemistry. Initially reluctant, she now uses Zoloft.
Looking back, Williams is convinced that she has had depression since her teens, but she didn't know it and it certainly wasn't something anyone talked to her about.
That trend is as true today as it was a decade ago, according to a survey of athletes and coaches sponsored as part of the campaign. Because of stigma associated with depression, athletes and coaches often overlook it.
At the same time, the survey says both believe mental health is slightly more important than physical health in defining peak athletic performance.
The survey also found that while 85 percent of coaches say they bring up the subject of mental health with their athletes at least occasionally, only 58 percent of athletes say the coach does bring it up.
Minds in Motion offers information about depression, including a self-quiz to foster communication with someone who may be depressed and his or her health-care professional. It can also help coaches discuss depression with athletes. It's available through the Minds in Motion toll-free information line at 1-800-890-1100.
E-mail: lois@desnews.com