What are you trying to say? Enough with the vague posting. |
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It's not about money, or large houses, or anything like that. But some people want it to be about that -so much!
It is about mental illness. Period. |
| Saw the trailer for Angriest man in Brooklyn. Just scary when you think about it. (He has 90 minutes before he dies and wants to say goodbye to everyone...) |
| But most people with mental illness don't kill themselves. There's more to it. Much more. |
Lots of people have Parkinson's, but none I know of has taken his or her own life. It's a terrible disease, but you can live with it for a long time, and have a decent life until the very end. My relative had it for 20 years. The end was bad, but about 19.5 years were pretty good. We should have had Robin Williams for another 20 years, at least, and of course his family deserved to have him even more. The notes from his children are so very sad. It's so confounding when someone takes his own life. I knew a woman with bipolar disease who killed herself shortly after the birth of her second child. She had a great career, husband, family, but the disease killed her. It was a true tragedy because so many people knew and loved and depended on her (she was a physician). Robin Williams died of mental illness, not alcoholism or drug abuse. He was not in his right mind, was not capable of making rational decisions. He was in pain and wanted out, and didn't see another avenue. That's what mental illness does to the human mind -- it shorts out reason and turns everything painful and black. It's confounding that someone so intelligent could be so impaired that he couldn't find another way out before making an irrevocable decision. But that's what happened to the woman I knew. She'd been in the hospital for her disease, was treated, her physician said she was well enough to leave, and the very next day she killed herself. RW did seek treatment recently, but obviously it wasn't enough to save him. But don't judge him or his family. He was a kind, generous person who was afflicted by a terrible disease that in the end, took him away from us, just as cancer or any other fatal disease does. We don't blame people for dying of cancer, and we should not blame him for dying of mental illness. He'd sought help, and I'm sure his family did their best to help him. His death is a tragedy and a great loss to all of us who delighted in his humor for all these many years. Rest in peace, Robin. And blessings to his family. |
| I wish his wife would list what meds he was on. I wish the VA would cull through medical records and see if there's a common med all the soldiers who commit suicide were on (the army suicide rate is something like one a day). Lots of folks who commit suicide are in treatment and on meds (usually multiple meds). Hoping RW tragedy will shine a light on this issue. If I were his kid, I would dedicate my life to this cause (after all, they don't have to work). |
100% spot on. He died from a disease that is sometimes treatable, but sometimes lethal. |
| Sorry, but I'm not willing to accept that suicide is inevitable for people suffering with mental illness. Curious to know how he was being treated and what meds he was on. |
Are you fucking dense? Bipolar is a huge risk for suicide, medication or not. Nobody said it was inevitable. |
| I'm not dense. But I'm a bit troubled by the many posts that seem to indicate that mental illness results in suicide. If you've been through this with a loved one, then you know that doctors throw around a lot of meds and don't take the time to truly treat the patient with the thoroughness that is necessary. Having been through this (suicide) with a number of veterans and having dealt with my siblings mental illness (and poor medical care), I'm super pissed at the lack of accountability of the medical profession and the lack of awareness by society in general for not demanding better mental health care for everyone. If a rich guy like him wasn't receiving appropriate care, then what shot do the rest of us have? |
| Folks, suicide is preventable. |
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I think it is important to know that there are not that many people (considering) who have mental illness, who would kill themselves. Often meds work, sometimes they do not. But ITA, it is a shame that he tried to get help but couldn't get enough, it seems. Such a huge loss. |
I don't believe you are blaming the patients who don't feel they have another option. I has also had a suicide in my immediate family. I don't think that was the answer but I don't think my sibling was in their right state of mind. Suicide - for what I encountered- is somewhat impulsive. My sibling had alluded to it a bit for what I could read in earlier emails but so much went on that it was a blip. So- sibling thought it out several times when they weren't right- and then one night acted on it. RW has money but unless you tell someone your demons/wishes- no one can help you. |
His mental illness contributed to his death. However he was also under financial stress, he had 'fired' from his job (show was cancelled). he had struggled with bipolar highs and horrible lows and the depression was overwhelming. He couldn't use substances to cope as he knew where that would lead. He had been diagnosed with a life altering illness. People are complex beings and he had many of the risk factors for suicide. Depression is a complicated and individual illness with biological, psychological, social and spiritual factors. I don't know what state of mind he was in when planning his suicide. Maybe it was the impulsive decision of an irrational mind. Maybe he had decided after the last depression that he wouldn't go through that again and it was a well thought out choice, rational given his illnesses and stressors. |
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There was/were not one, two or even three factors that contributed to his death. There were probably countless reasons, most of which we will never know. But 23:06 came close in description. No one commits suicide over one, two or even three things. It is a tumbling snowball, gathering more and more snow, until disaster strikes. It takes a terribly long time and more than a few stresses to get to that point, in almost every case I know. |