When an iconic artist and performer takes his own life at a time when he ought to be on top of the world, well, then you start examining the demons that drove him to that tragic end.
Robin Williams’s apparent suicide Monday has brought depression to the public fore.
As it should.
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=881808
Williams was one of the world’s most dynamic entertainers. His talent was seemingly without limits. His comic genius sprang from a mind with an incalculable amount of material rolling around in it, which he unleashed with hysterical fury almost without warning.
He made people laugh to the point of crying.
Williams had his demons. They involved alcoholism and drug abuse. They cost him at least one marriage, maybe more.
Internationally acclaimed entertainers, superstars and assorted celebrities have left us from all manner of illness: AIDS, Alzheimer’s, various forms of cancer.
Yes, depression is a killer, too.
Robin Williams’s tragic end will bring this disease to our national attention.
Let’s have this discussion as we mourn our national loss.
Robin Williams’ death is shocking. It would be tragic even if he had died a natural death or was lost due to an accident. The circumstances were terrible. He suffered from deep depressions. I myself, along with many others more educated in mental illnesses than me, believe that he suffered from bipolar syndrome. Not long ago, someone with this affliction was referred to as a manic depressive. It is a much more accurate description of the condition. These people experience periods of bullet-proof mania followed by periods of profound depression. I have personal experience with this in as much as my father-in-law, brother-in-law, and only son suffer from this condition. My son once told me about a documentary that he had watched concerning schizophrenic convicts who had committed murder. One of these convicts appeared on camera to explain himself. He stated that he was guilty, did not expect to be forgiven, but wanted only to be understood. He said that it was like living a movie and he was frantically struggling to get to the end of the show. My son said, “Dad, I know exactly what he was talking about.”
I think that Robin was in his last movie.