[David] Boudia’s emptiness after the 2008 Olympics continued through his freshman year and into his sophomore year at Purdue. He jumped into the college party scene. He made a lot of friends and a lot of self-described “silly choices.”
One day, the depression got so severe he couldn’t even get out of bed.
“I woke up from a nap and felt like I’d hit a wall,” Boudia said. “I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what my purpose was. I didn’t know why I was feeling the way I was feeling.”
A diving teammate at Purdue directed Boudia to his coach, of all people. Boudia called Adam Soldati and went over to his house, where he sat and listened to Soldati and his wife Kimiko talk about the Lord.
This story is deeply troubling. If someone is suffering from clinical depression then they need professional help. Of course turning to God is part of finding our way through life. But I have known people struggle with serious depression who have been told that if they accept Christ into their hearts all will be well. They have tried that and were still clinically depressed, only feeling worse because they felt that in some way they lacked faith, or were not acceptable to God, and had failed in some way. By all means let us bring others to Christ, let us pray for them and if they want, lay hands on them. But let us acknowledge also that sometimes there may a need for professional counselling and perhaps pharmacological help for a time.