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Stacy Hollingsworth, an honors student at Rutgers University who suffers from major depressive disorder, dropped out of college in the fall semester of her sophomore year after the routine aspects of college life left her so incapacitated that she became suicidal and was hospitalized.
At home in Old Bridge, N.J., she could retreat to the isolation of her bedroom when she was depressed — an impossibility in her crowded dormitory. The staggered class schedule left her lacking a dependable rhythm. Even getting dressed and walking to the cafeteria became an insurmountable task.
“I was in excruciating pain. I couldn’t breathe,” she said.
Though she had been suffering from depression since her early teens, she hid her struggle from family and friends. She sought counseling help for the first time in college, but still could not cope.
After a two-year absence and the loss of $15,000 in state scholarships, Ms. Hollingsworth, now 22, is back at Rutgers finishing her degree in exercise physiology and psychology. She is founder of the Rutgers’ affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one of the organization’s newest student chapters.
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