Anxiety disorder or pathological stress on the one hand and depression on the other are two different mental illnesses, just as a torn ligament and a broken bone are different physical illnesses. In a high-pressure job like professional football, pathological stress symptoms can occur more often. Former national player Per Mertesacker, for example, reported how the stress before games got to him so badly that he had to vomit. But that has nothing to do with depression. Depression, like cancer, occurs at every age, in every profession, in every class, in every country. Many people’s idea that the high pressure makes professional footballers particularly susceptible to depression is wrong. In my opinion, Robert would have been susceptible to depression even as a teacher or book author because he had a predisposition to it.
Robert Enke hid his depression for years, and not just from you. Above all, he was afraid that he would have to end his career if he went public with his illness. Would things be different today?
I’m sure of that. The prime example of this is Andrés Iniesta, one of the world’s best footballers of recent times, who made his illness public in 2018. He managed to live with her and still be able to perform in football. But there were no such examples in Robert’s time. In Germany there was only the case of Sebastian Deisler – and he ended his career because of the depression. Nowadays Robert would certainly have done the same as Iniesta. The treatment would have been easier for him and he might even be alive today.
How did you react when you found out about his suicide?
I was blown away because at that point I had no understanding of depression at all. For example, I didn’t know that if the illness progresses severely, suicidal thoughts can arise because the metabolism in the affected person’s brain is not functioning properly and, due to their profound depression and this distorted perception, they have the wrong idea that they will never be able to get rid of this illness – and therefore commit suicide. This was all incomprehensible to me.