Letter to the Editor: Depression should not be ignored

As health peer educators working to combat societal "ideals" of beauty and Duke's ideal of "effortless perfection," we, the ESTEEM peer educators, were of course troubled and concerned by the anonymous editorial that appeared Oct. 17. We all hope that the young woman is making her first steps towards getting help, and we encourage her to reach out to the various resources on campus, including our group of student volunteers.

The feedback from this column has been tremendous and we are encouraged by the number of editorials and columns that have appeared since, urging students on this campus to make changes in how we view ourselves and those around us. While we applaud those who speak out against eating disorders, distorted body image and a campus that perpetuates an ideal that reflects and magnifies these problems, we also want to note that if we as a campus focus on this young woman's eating disorder, and ignore her debilitating depression--her obvious pain and despair, then we are not acknowledging the whole of this woman's experience--and the experience of those like her at this University.

Just as with eating disorders, depression at Duke is not just a women's issue--there are many students who struggle with feelings of hopelessness, sorrow and worthlessness. It may be manifested in a variety of different ways--alcohol dependency, drug abuse or issues with food, or it may exist alone. Depression is no less serious if it is unaccompanied by other dysfunctional behaviors. While we are happy that eating disorders are becoming a topic that is less intimidating to broach, we cannot sit by and ignore the stigma that also surrounds depression in the Duke community.

This campus is rife with intelligent, capable people, who, regardless of their capacity to achieve, are helpless in the grips of mental illness. As if this were not problematic enough, we then inhabit an environment in which, as the young woman stated, our greatest failure might be admitting there was a problem. We in ESTEEM acknowledge the existence of depression among our fellow students and also recognize that it might not be so easy to ask for help. We encourage those who are struggling with any problem to reach out, even if it is to only a single person. We would also like to open the dialogue further to embrace all of those who suffer in silence, and hope that this awareness will begin to cure the epidemic that casts a shadow over the Duke family.

The authors are Members of ESTEEM (Educating Students to Eliminate Eating Misconceptions)