RIO DE JANEIRO _ Allison Schmitt couldn't drag herself out of bed. She bounced through wild mood swings and felt helpless and hopeless, as if she were treading water above a deep, dark hole.
Why are you feeling like this?
Here was a six-time Olympic medalist from Canton, Mich., a woman whose entire life had been devoted to swimming, and she wanted to quit.
"I didn't know what was wrong or why I was swimming so terrible," she said. "Every time I dived in the water, I felt like I failed. I felt disappointed. I thought the only way was to quit."
Michael Phelps noticed at a meet in Austin, Texas, in January 2015.
"He said to me, 'I can tell there is something wrong,' " Schmitt said. " 'I don't know what it is. I'm here for you. I can help you or I can find someone else to help you.' "
Thankfully, his words woke her up.
"That was the turning point for me," she said. "I broke down on the pool deck."
That was so out of character for Schmitt. This wasn't the good-natured, smiling, determined athlete anymore. This was someone else.
"I hate crying," she said. "I hate showing my emotions, and I lost it in front of everyone. I sat there for two hours, just talking."
Schmitt went to see a psychologist. She was suffering from depression, a disease that affects 16 million Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
But now, after undergoing therapy, Schmitt is in a different place, and she is urging others to get help as swims at her third Olympic Games.
"It's OK to ask for help," she said. "That shows more strength than trying to persevere and push through it."
