tncorrente

While depression is very real we need to understand that not all suicides are due to depression. In my first husband's family we endured two suicides. Neither was due to depression, instead, they both made a choice to escape trouble they got themselves into. The trouble was only a few hours old so I know it was not depression. They made bad choices and this is how they chose to cope. That being said, suicides are so difficult for those left behind and heart goes out to the families.

Sandygirl

We don't know why Robin Williams took his own life. He took that info to his grave. Now the wife is adding a diagnoses of Parkinsons...another awful disease. I wonder if an aging entertainer no longer in the limelight as he once was, facing his own mortality and human foibles, etc just could not be exposed as he was. HUMAN. Entertainers ....entertain. When that starts to wane...well, that is difficult to handle.

Yea yea, he had projects coming etc but there does come a time when the "star" dims. I loved Robin Willaims and in the end, I feel sad about his end.

We can't fix this. I vote to close the thread, frankly.

RIP Mr. Willaims, i trust that you have found true Peace.

sandy

kacie

Please do not close this thread. We have to keep talking about it if progress is to be made.

damaquilts

I am glad to see so much support for people with mental illness here. I am another who is bi-polar. I took meds for a while with good results then I started to have horrible side effects. I got violent. Made it very hard to find one that worked . I am at this point off meds. And doing reasonably well with meditation, and energy work . I still have my bad days but I have homeopathics I can take to soften it.
I have to say I do love my manic phases , I get so much done and I am in such a great mood. But I know they don't last. One thing that also needs to be realized is it isn't just vets that suffer from PTSD. I do also. I had a major episode a few months back because of my living situation . It was bad enough to send me back to the doctor. I hadn't been in years. I am now in a place that is peaceful , calm and quiet. Just what I needed to function well. I spent my entire life trying to fit into others idea of what I should be like and now I can just be me. I figure at 62 its about time.
To all who suffer with these things. Keep looking until you find your peace.
To all that give support and understanding. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. There is very little out there.

Jo Anne B.

Alcohol is a depressant, so is pot, add the depression that accompanies Parkinson's disease. obviously too much for Robin to handle. I had a college anatomy/physiology instructor who describe the superior intelligent persons are prone to having unbalanced brains. Maybe strong in intelligence weak in social skills, decision making skills, as examples. She did add "It is far easier to be average"
I have a nephew who is of superior intelligence, skipped a grade. He also had a serious fixation with lighters and locking people out of houses. As a teen he found shoplifting and huffing(breathing chemicals from an aerosal can) My brother sent him to a rehab school in West Somoa island. He was required to wash his own clothes in a creek beating on a rock-probably like my great great grandmother did. He never left Level #1 in the entire 2.5 years he was there. He was graduated because he turned 18. He is now 30 and for whatever reason he is doing ok. (Thank God!). Right now I have a friend (yes, a friend) who is battling depression and suicidal thoughts. and is very open about this yet, works hard to hide and deny her daily alcoholic and pot dependence. I find myself walking a tight rope as to how often and how well do I keep in touch with her and keep a healthy distance from the substance abuse and subsequent behaviors. Pot by the way is a Gateway drug to other drug usage.

cashs_mom

I have managed to overcome my emotional problems thru working with a 12 step group and the help of a holistic practitioner. It can be a long road and it does take work. Just like addiction, until someone is ready to do the work themselves, real change won't happen. No one else can "fix" them. I'm not big on the 'give 'em a pill and send them on their way" idea. While I do believe the drugs have their place in treating severe mental illness, I also believe that too many people get the pill and feel somewhat better and so don't really do the work to address the problem which is really sad. Many people are also put on drugs and never really evaluated further. They feel better and so they just keep taking the drug. That system does work for a while, but often because no real changes are made, it quits working for them at some point. I just pray that those that need help get it.

Also, just being clean or sober does not fix everything. There are underlying causes for the drug or alcohol use. If they are not addressed, there can be the same behaviours and thought patterns from the addicted days even though the addiction is no longer present. There's also the continuing battle with wanting the substance that is too much for some people to handle. Some sort of continuing support like AA or NA is very helpful to addicts, but often not sought out even though it's free. It's very sad.

bearisgray

I really think almost every person has some degree of "abnormality/anomaly/defect/gift" - physically, physiologically, mentally - these can be caused by and can change due to genetics/age/illness/accident/experiences/environment.

The big question is - when does this become a problem for the person and the people around that person?

For example - I have arthritis in my hands and some of my fingers are crooked. Does this bother me? Yes - but not to the extent that it stops me from doing much of what I've always been doing. They look a little odd, but not enough so that most people will stare at them.

One of my cousins has such severe rheumatoid arthritis that her fingers were almost pointing 90 degrees from their "normal" position. She has had several surgeries to try to maintain as much use as possible of her hands.

I think this "range" is also possible with other conditions that humans are faced with.

Mousie

I could say a whole lot here but I won't. (I might get on a roll...),
except I'm happy to see this here.
Also happy to see so much understanding towards things one cannot
see with the eyes, but certainly can feel!
about the b-12 for anemia.
I take a shot every 2weeks, and I agree with the 600 level.
anything below that and I don't feel good about much

Mousie

ok, I have to reply here.
I once had a therapist and I asked him, "When you wake up in the morning, how do you know you are mentally healthy?"
He did not answer bc he wanted me to find the answer for myself.
When I went back, I told him that I did indeed find the answer.
I said, "I think if a person even has to ask themselves if they are mentally healthy, that is a sign they could use some help."
Whether it's a little help, or a lot of help...we all want to feel balanced.
As for taking medication...I weighed the pro's and the cons and I gained more benefit with it, than without it.
It took a lot of years for me to learn not to be embarrassed, even though there are plenty of medical
doctors out there that will judge you for it.
Yes, I said doctors.
Never mind the public. They are ignorant (uneducated).
There is no excuse for doctors that have had the necessary education to be so biased and judgemental.
Shame on them!
I had one try to talk me out of getting some counseling.
He later had to put me into the hospital and one of his nurses committed suicide.
I have a feeling, after that he didn't act like depression was nonexistent.
Severe depression can make it more painful to be alive.
(yes, there are things worse than death.)

AllyStitches

I guess I just want to chime in here too.

I've seen a lot of comments intimating that suicide is the easy way out, comparing Robin's struggle with that of folks who have fought cancer or other diseases, combined with the idea that he had no right to make the choice to commit suicide when he wasn't facing terminal illness. Don't you know that Robin fought for his life too? Day in and day out-- addiction, depression, Parkinson's Disease? That sounds like a heck of a fight to me, and ultimately, he lost that fight. Any one of those things would put the average person into a tailspin, and Robin was dealing with all three. We are lucky we had him as long as we did. He showed up in the world, went to work and made movies that COUNTED. They are unforgettable. He made a difference in ALL of our lives.

I want to say that Depression is an illness-- a disease-- that kills people. It can be just as terminal as a physical illness. It's terribly difficult to treat for various reasons, just like some physical illnesses, like cancer, Parkinson's Disease, ALS, MS and others, are difficult to treat. I don't know the suicide rates of Depression sufferers-- but isn't it clear by now that Depression is just as real as any of these? It can be just as difficult to get out of bed and show up, care for your family, or do your job.

Until our society understands that sometimes suicide is not a CHOICE, we are going to have difficulty making changes to allow people to get the help they need. If someone is affected by depression or other mental illness and commits suicide-- often they have not made a CHOICE. They were forced into the action by the state of their illness. The control that gives power to a CHOICE is gone, it doesn't exist anymore. Depression isn't something you can talk yourself out of or pull yourself up by the bootstraps and feel better. I mean, look, Robin was an avid cyclist-- do you know how uplifting cycling is? My longest ride was 80 miles, and I can tell you right now that there is no better drug to help one's spirits. I've ridden some of the same routes he did. If he could have pulled himself up by his bootstraps and gone on a bike ride to feel better, he would have-- any cyclist would. BUT HE COULDN'T BECAUSE HE WAS SICK. Just like you can't ride with a broken leg, you can't ride with a broken brain! Most cyclists are avidly into nutrition, and committed to exercise. These are healthy people!!

One more thing: People say that suicide is selfish. Many people who commit suicide are convinced that their loved ones are better off without them. In that respect, suicide is not selfish-- it's selfless.

I hope that we can find a way to offer mental health services to people who need it. It's terribly difficult to get help in our day and age.

I guess I just want things to be better, and I want this to be the last suicide that I'm faced with in my life. I don't want families to suffer this sadness anymore. I want peace and contentment for folks who suffer. No one deserves to live with the kind of pain that Depression brings. Not the individual or their loved ones.