Wendy Williams Creating depression Awareness

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Wendy Williams is the Olympic diver from USA. Williams earned an Olympic bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul and she has five national titles under her name in diving. She has been suffering from depression since long. She was depressed all during her days when she was winning national championships and Olympic bronze medal.

According to her she once crumbled at the floor in front of her refrigerator, crying because she was not able to decide what she will have for lunch. That day Williams' was able to know her problems and her life was saved. Williams knew now that she is not alone in this illness, although the realization came a bit late.

The rise of Depression Awareness by Wendy

Julie Foudy, the women's soccer star, along with Williams go around the country to spread awareness about depression and its different forms.

The Women's Sports Foundation's "Minds in Motion Depression Awareness Campaign" has Williams as one of the participants along with Julie and 3 other highly accomplished women in US sports.

Williams is now married and lives in Charlottesville, VA.

Williams and her Depression

According to her, she used to lock all her feelings in the locker room before starting to take the diving practice or live matches. The depression is always there with her, but she has to shut it down temporarily in order to sustain in the very competitive sports segment. She could put her crying jags aside and felt really silly for feeling so bad all the times. She could no longer control her emotions after she retired and moved to Maui.

An spinal injury three months before the 1992 Olympics, made her to take forced retirement. She was the top contender of Olympic gold and the dreams shattered. She was in denial mode and a lot of grief. She took time to recover and moved around Europe to get herself back. In the fall of 1994, her physician diagnosed her with major depression.

Depression as per the Senior Doctor at Weill Cornell Medical Centre, is the number one cause of disability in the world, much worse than heart disease, cancer, and car accidents. People who has depression suffer a lot and they do not work. Most of the time they are in the bed and doing nothing, It is a major loss for the society and country.

Williams after being diagnosed with major depression started taking antidepressant, which she is continuing even today. After initial resistance for medications, she now attributes her medication for saving her life from depression.