Robin Williams Sucide

I remember the first time Robin Williams was on TV, on Happy Days, as Mork. He's had a stellar career all these years and he was one of a kind. Like everyone else I am stunned by his depression and suicide. I remember a picture taken of him about a month ago. He really didn't look good, looked like a street person. Thin, unshaven, haggard.

Despite all his friends and success, and therefore access to people, whether social or professional, who should have been able to listen deeply to him, apparently that did not provide him with insight to lead him out of his depressed/bipolar (or what have you - I do not know) and addicted state. His life and death will be remembered and discussed long after I am dead and forgotten, I am sure. His significance to people, I mean, will survive the next several decades at least, and probably much longer. Perhaps some social consciousness raising will come of this. I hope so.

"Insomnia" - one of his less famous roles. He was great opposite Al Pacino.

The news of Robin Williams' suicide has also bothered me greatly. I find myself unable to stop thinking about it. This was my exact thought also:

If someone with all those resources and such a community of support can slip away....what about all the ones with no safety network.

Lately in my therapy, we have been discussing my fear about not being able to cope down the road, or my husband to cope. I have C-PTSD, features of BPD, GAD, and DDNOS. My h has rapid cycling bipolar and 16 other medical conditions, some of them serious, such as an aortic aneurysm. (I am not exaggerating, I am totally serious.) We are only 50 years old. My h has a small disability pension, and I work full time.

We have very little support except my therapist and his mom. We have no kids, grandkids, nieces, or nephews to support us. We lost our cloest friends when we got depressed. My whole family has totally ignored my mental health problems, even when I was hospitalized, they never mentioned it, never asked why I was depressed, have just pretended not to know.

So yes, it scares me very much every time I hear about someone with mental illness who has tried very hard to get well, but succombed nontheless and took their life. Especially when it seems like they had a loving family, lots of friends and support, and enough money to get the best treatment.

My biggest fear is that when my t retires and if/when my h passes away, I won't have anyone close to me who really cares enough to support me or even check in with me regularly to see if I am OK. I have been in therapy for several years and have alot of knowledge of my mental illness. But I also know how hard it is to maintain emotional composure when I get triggered or under too much stress. I know I could easily go downhill, and with nobody there to help gauge how I'm doing, I worry about what could happen. My biggest issues are about loss and abandonment, so I know when I lose my t and/or my h, it is going to be extremely difficult.

I just have to keep trusting in God and in the skills I've learned, and try my best to put one foot in front of the other. '

Thank goodness for this forum.



Peaches

I was stunned.....I thought, "I didn't hear that right."

I loved him since I first saw him in Mork and Mindy. I was never familiar with his stand up work, but I loved him in: Good morning, Vietnam, Mrs. Doubtfires, and Dead Poet's Society the best. He was funny as heck.

Just thinking of him made my chuckle...

His latest sit com, The Crazy Ones, was cancelled after one season. But I enjoyed him in it.

It seems people who make us laugh are sometimes crying inside. (I've read Jim Carrey has suffered from depression also)

Good night, Vietnam.

Princess appreciates the thoughts and views shared in this thread.

I posted earlier in the Current Events thread some similar perspectives as above.
Post #34 on the page: http://forums.psychcentral.com/curre...gger%2A-4.html

Here also is DrJohn's news posting last evening here on PC if you've not read that yet.
Robin Williams, Bipolar Sufferer, Dead at 63 Due to Suicide | World of Psychology

It is such a tragic loss of a beloved human being, a great humanitarian.

I posted earlier in the Current Events & News thread, post #34 on the page:
http://forums.psychcentral.com/curre...gger%2A-4.html

Also in case you haven't read DrJohn's post of the news last evening:
Psych Central - Search results for Robin Williams

I have a different view on that. It's not the access to resources, clearly, that makes the difference. Sure, resources can help. At the root, though, in life, you are on your own.

Ending my life is a choice I can make, if I have the knowledge of how to do it. Meds didn't help me, counsellors didn't help me. I had no true friends all my life. My husband, a true friend, didn't solve it for me. My family was worse than useless. I had to take it upon myself in a dark and lonely life, and come up with something that works moment by moment, or fail. I didn't have drugs, success, or a glittering social circle to distract me. Would be nice to have had the latter two!! In the end, life is always a gamble and you are always responsible.

Awakenings....my all time favorite, if having a favorite is even possible with Robin Williams, everything he did, he so gave his heart to.

I hope he's found the place where laughter comes without tears, nor criticism; where the absurd is always valued as the natural plaything of the human experience, and of life....He was an amazing man.

Years ago, around 1980 I think, I said to my therapist that my greatest fear wasn't that I would kill myself, but that I wouldn't. Now, 34 years later, I'm not sorry I stayed.

Robin lived 63 years. We don't know if he killed himself or not, but we know he was struggling and depressed. Still, he has touched so many lives with strength, inspiration, and laughter. He blessed mine many times over. I think that matters. And I hope and trust that the grief and struggle for him have evaporated now.

I believe that for a person as different, intelligent, and gifted as he was, the fact that he often felt alienated, empty, and alone is understandable. Whatever happened at the end, the life he lived was worth something, and so is ours.

Well said! There are so many double standards in modern society it drives you nuts. Here's a chance to open dialogue about mood disorders and the Media is so far off on what they choose to report on. People use because they're not happy with something about themselves, otherwise they wouldn't go near something that alters your mind and personality.

George Carlin talked about double standards in America during his act in the 80's: How Time magazine will run a story of Cocaine on the cover...but slip liquor ads inside the magazine.

This also gets me. Everyone always talks about how people are social creatures. Williams, L'Wren Scott, Richard Jeni were surrounded by close family members who loved them but it's totally like everyone was helpless in this situation and these people ended up being islands to themselves.

I saw Williams and Carlin at PSU in the 80's. Williams was manic off-the-chart. I don't know how he did it. I've seen/heard other successful people who are bipolar and can function well. I can not relate to that one bit.

Hearing the method that was used was very triggering this morning. I don't think it was necessary to report that.

For those who feel the same way as robin speak up don't suffer in silence you are not alone. Please seek help ASAP

Jesus, that's sad news. He was an amazing actor!

"I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone." - Robin Williams

Wow, that's deeeep.

I hope that's not how he felt. This is so, so sad.

Yeah. Social links and very close and intimate links are completely different things, in my experience. People I've seen who are very social, even professionally social such as social workers, promoters, even performers such as Robin Williams, may have great talent for these surface interactions, but sometimes never get good at deeper and difficult or unpleasant and conflicting sorts of interactions. (Note I did not use the word superficial and nor am I saying one kind of interaction is superior -- rather, they have different uses and purposes.) Also not saying it's a general trend or whatever - I don't have data per se, just observations through my life. Being awesome at one thing in no way prepares you for the other. The social things can be cheering and get you through some rough times, but when it's a dark night of the soul, something deeper is wanted, in my experience. Shiny happy people aren't always enough. Note, I have no personal knowledge of Robin Wms' life and relationships. I'm reflecting more broadly on this, and aspects of human personality and behaviour.

Even more broadly, North American societies, as well as some European ones I'm familiar with, put a great focus on social things to the detriment of the slower and less showy intimate sorts of things. Don't you think so?

I'm still trying to process this. It's just too much right now. He was just not the sort of person I'd envision doing this. Not that I knew him, of course I didn't. Still I've always been confident in my ability to assess the inner strength of people and I am totally taken aback. And deeply saddened at the loss. There are very few people who I've been able to look into their eyes and see that someone is home... that some deeply aware soul abides within.
He was one.

I was watching a tribute to his life on CNN and they showed a clip of an interview he did some years ago where he was encouraging people to get help for depression. He said: "suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem". How sad his own comment didn't help him in the end.

I wonder if it is in fact a permanent solution. I hope he found the peace he sought. He might not have.

The whole topic is very triggering to myself.......

So much compassion for him and his loved ones. Clearly his hurt was so deep, so immense that he could no longer bear it. I think we all wish there was some way we (collectively) could have reached out to him prior to his death.

He now stands before both a merciful and a just God. I hope that ends well for him - I know that I am totally unqualified to decide what will be the outcome.

I was totally shocked to hear the news. I'm not into following celebrities so I actually didn't know anything about his private life. I thought of my own depression and suicidal thinking and was sad but grateful that I managed to escape death.

But so many don't. I used to work on a suicide hotline. Suicide is now a more common form of death than car accidents and yet it is hardly ever mentioned let alone openly discussed.

I've actually been surprised at the media's willingness to discuss suicide and mental health issues. I read strong arguments made about reducing stigma and treating mental health issues as equally important as physical health. This is a significant shift that may help many other people, both those that suffer and those that don't understand those that suffer. If someone so amazing as Williams could suffer and die from this illness, perhaps people will begin to change their attitudes.

I learned on the hotline that there is really nothing we can do to stop someone who is determined to kill themselves; that is a fantasy of rescuing someone. So there is nothing we can do about what Williams did. However, there is lots we can do with the aftermath and potential shifts in attitude that this public event has begun to stir.

A temporary problem - years of suffering with no real relief, as so many people with various forms of MI experience - from the disease itself, from society - some of our problems feel pretty permanent. It's a nice sentiment , but not always true.

So So sad too. I loved that man soo much he was hysterical

But obviously a hotline can distract a person from doing it for a while, calm the emotions and urges down and call police or ambulance on someone in that state of mind