actor Robin Williams possible suicide

This reminds me of earlier threads .e.g. the one about Amy Winehouse. It is sad when a talented and well-known figure takes his/her own life or dies as a result of some sort of substance abuse. It is right that those who admired that figure express their admiration for his her/her talent and sorrow that this talent will no longer bring new pleasure to the many admirers. However, it is bizarre that suddenly Gransnet seems to be packed with expert psychologists who specialise in depression and suicide and feel the need to make judgements about someone they don't know.

Those who have been bereaved as a result of another's suicide and those who have contemplated or even attempted suicide, who might well have useful insights, seem to have been far less ready to leap to judgement.

Dear phoenix I have every right to comment in any way I choose to.

It is a free country and we all have right to speech

I notice you chose not to re type ALL of my comments but just that one line!!

Read it all before you judge in the manner of a Theatre critic..

And may I say what gives you the right to be so confrontational

Just so pleased that this forum helps me to express my profound sorrow on hearing the death of Robin Williams. Perhaps discovering the onset of Parkinson's Disease just tipped him over the edge.

This man brought such joy whenever I watched him be it in a serious or comic role. Do you think he knew how funny he was? My favourite film of all is Good Morning Vietnam.

Why do we always lose such top performers this way?

I think the people who say it is a selfish act have not suffered from extreme depression.

I also think he had a mind which would not switch off, which came across in his work and interviews. I should imagine that is very tiring and frustrating and could probably cause anger plus a tendency to use drugs/drink to switch the mind off for a while. Other comedians suffered, Spike Milligan, Stephen Fry, possibly Eddie Izzard. All very intelligent people. they pay and have paid very highly for their talent. Spike Milligan wrote a book about depression, Stephen Fry has attempted suicide twice, thankfully unsuccessfully. Eddie Izzard says he does not suffer depression but his mind is extremely quick and must, at times, be hard to switch it off for peace. We all know what it is like to be around a young child for a time when they are chatting twenty to the dozen, think of your mind doing this all the time with no rest.

If his death has made one person stop and think about committing suicide, then he goes on helping people like he did in life, helping many charities in his time with us.

Secret Cinema and Mind together are putting on a screening of Dead Poets Society also with an In Memoriam of Robin's work along with poems, live music and performances with special guests. All profits going to MIND.

He was a beautiful, caring, funny man with a twinkle in his eye that meant mischief in whatever he did. A seemingly perfectionist in his craft, wanting to get it right for his audience.

I, for one, will forever appreciate and love him, even though he is now entertaining the big man himself.

My heart goes out to his family ...

Ana I agree with your post one hundred per cent.

It is true to say that depression is a selfish thing simply because it is all about you

tcherry what on earth gives you the right to make that comment!

Apparently he was in the early stages of parkinsons disease.

could it be passed down through the generations

There was an interesting item on the news a couple of days ago about this. They believe that many character traits are inherited but even if you have inherited a certain gene, there is no reason to assume that gene will become active (think of families where one or two family members have been prone to substance abuse: drugs, alcohol - or gambling, aggression, etc) but not every member of that family is also prone to doing the same thing.

The current research is trying to see if it is possible to switch off those genes or, at least, moderate the effect they have on a person's behaviour; there is a long way to go yet though.

I think the fact that someone who seems to have everything - successful career, respect of their peers, family and home still kills themself - shows that they are way beyond help and have become convinced that this is the only thing left. It is a terrible thing for the family, but in the end you cannot get right into someone else's mind.

I have heard people say it's cowardly. I don't think it is - it's quite brave. I don't think I could do it, despite many traumas in my life. The balance of their mind is usually disturbed. They are not thinking even remotely logically.

I do think it's terribly judgemental to insist that anyone who commits suicide is either a coward or selfish, or both.

Those who do so are seeing things from the point of view of the bereaved, not the person who ended his or her own life because they could see no way out, and possibly really believed that their loved ones would be better off without them.

I don't think that a person in such a dark place would easily, if at all, be 'talked out of it' or 'helped to see reason'.

NanKate. Thank you. It was a long time ago. He was 24 poor lad.

How awful for you KatyK I hope it has not affected your life too much.

A few people on the USA news have commented saying he was a coward to commit suicide and leave his daughters behind

It is true to say that depression is a selfish thing simply because it is all about you

But when you get to the state of suicide, ordinary reasoning like I will be leaving my family alone just goes out the window, you are not thinking straight.

Its just a shame that he had no one there to talk him out of it or help him to see reason when he did commit suicide

May he rest in Peace

My brother did this. The first overwhelming emotion is shock. Then comes grief, then how could we have helped him more (although we tried but maybe not enough). There is also a stigma I'm afraid - could it be passed down through the generations.

It's very sad about the plight of Robin Williams, but I always think how it must have affected those who are left behind and especially the person who found him.

They must feel angry, disappointed and heartbroken.

Why are there two threads on Robin Williams??

Just asking!

#puzzledofsuffolk

Thanks for those, Grannyknot. I hope his funeral celebrates the funny take he had on life. His family and friends are devastated and clearly loved him without exception, so will forgive him.

Some of his quips about addiction problems were also some of his funniest:

"Cocaine is God's way of telling you you have too much money".

"Alcoholic black-outs is witness protection for the conscience".

Definitely dabbling in drugs with or without it leading to addiction can cause crushing depression later on.

Cocaine does terrible things to mental health. If he wasn't depressed or psychotic when he started, the years of drug and alcohol addiction would have messed up his head. He did make me laugh with his quip about taking cocaine to calm himself down. He had a fast and witty intellect - such a shame he hadn't found a way to express it without constantly relapsing into substance abuse.

I've been struck by how his suicide has affected the younger members of my extended family. It seems he had quite a cult following in young people who have seen a lot of his performances on YouTube.

I think he was either bi-polar or a manic depressive. I was very fortunate to see him at the Comedy Store in New York in 1979. He was the headline act He was so frenetic in his delivery, although extremely funny it was almost exhausting being there. He was also on Saturday Night Live and again frenetic but funny.
My favourite films of him were Good Morning Vietnam and The Dead Poets Society.
So sad but not surprising he would go this way. He had had a severe addiction to cocaine in the 1980s and had been in and out of ReHab .

Its very sad news indeed- there seems to be a darker side to many of our finest comedy talents. Poor man so tormented. RIP

I wouldn't slam you for that comment Judthepud2. I have been fortunate in avoiding cancer so far, but I do have auto immune conditions that are invisible so I empathise with others with similarly 'invisible' health problems, physical and/or mental. I feel sad for Robin Williams, he must have struggled so hard, for so long. Addictions/anxiety/depression go hand in hand - it's the old which comes first conundrum isn't it.

Important to remember that this kind of depression is an illness. Just because other people can't see it doesn't make it any less corrosive than, say, cancer. People suffering from depression are often more helpless in the face of this illness than cancer sufferers. And before I get slammed for this, I am a cancer survivor!