You're not the only one to hear "asphyxiation"& "suicide" and be concerned. This was completely out-of-the-blue for me and my first thought was that he deserved better. I doubt it's PR spin though, it would be a hell of a coincidelnce for an accident like that to happen while he was going through a depressive episode.BanicRhys said:Am I the only one considering that this might be another case of auto-erotic asphyxiation gone awry and his agent is merely pushing the suicide angle to save his reputation?Remus said:Asphyxiation. Haven't heard more beyond that.
Just saying (I'm so sorry).
Most people consider depression to be a characteristic, personality trait, or choice. That's where the misunderstanding is. It's a mental illness. Telling a person with depression to snap out of it is like trying to tell a schizophrenic to just ignore the voices. They physically can't, that's why they have a problem. Add in his history with addiction and you have a deadly cocktail. The fact that he dealt with his addiction(and continued to deal with it) earlier in his life is probably why he lasted as long as he did.FalloutJack said:My girlfriend told me about this yesterday. Massive derail on the Jack-brain. He's one of my favorites. I didn't ask for this... I'll never understand depression. You're a success and the idol of millions, a comic legend. Why would you die when there's a life of comfort and everything...? (To understand where I'm coming from, my father had a clinically-depressed friend who was just plain always depressed. He died recently, but it was natural causes. So, it's hard for me to understand how a man who's up there in lights would go down like that.)
Hold on, now I do understand the difference here. There are people who are down in the dumps and depressed (symptom of bad stuff happening) and there are those who are clinically depressed. I'm aware you can't just get the latter to feel better, as a rule. I'm not mistaking this. Still, one thing I AM saying is that the depression doesn't always win. I also have to agree with you that the idea of just pilling up is no answer to the problem. The thing is...I knew Robin Williams was manic. I wasn't aware that he was also depressive.LetalisK said:Most people consider depression to be a characteristic, personality trait, or choice. That's where the misunderstanding is. It's a mental illness. Telling a person with depression to snap out of it is like trying to tell a schizophrenic to just ignore the voices. They physically can't, that's why they have a problem. Add in his history with addiction and you have a deadly cocktail. The fact that he dealt with his addiction(and continued to deal with it) earlier in his life is probably why he lasted as long as he did.
There's also the issue with the trivializing of depression(and anxiety disorders) because of the trend of family practitioners thinking they are adequately equipped to diagnose and treat it, usually by just throwing pills at the problem or "problem".
I wasn't coming at you or anything, just sharing information I happened to know. Also, "clinical depression" doesn't exist. It's just depression. "Clinical depression" is a made up term we as a society have concocted in our(probably unintentional) trivialization of depression as we label someone who is merely sad as "depressed", but reserve "clinical depression" for when we want everyone else to know we're being literal. Again, not coming at you, you probably already know this, I just have a background in psychology and I like to rant sometimes about how psychology is used and misused in the general public.FalloutJack said:Hold on, now I do understand the difference here. There are people who are down in the dumps and depressed (symptom of bad stuff happening) and there are those who are clinically depressed. I'm aware you can't just get the latter to feel better, as a rule. I'm not mistaking this. Still, one thing I AM saying is that the depression doesn't always win. I also have to agree with you that the idea of just pilling up is no answer to the problem. The thing is...I knew Robin Williams was manic. I wasn't aware that he was also depressive.LetalisK said:Most people consider depression to be a characteristic, personality trait, or choice. That's where the misunderstanding is. It's a mental illness. Telling a person with depression to snap out of it is like trying to tell a schizophrenic to just ignore the voices. They physically can't, that's why they have a problem. Add in his history with addiction and you have a deadly cocktail. The fact that he dealt with his addiction(and continued to deal with it) earlier in his life is probably why he lasted as long as he did.
There's also the issue with the trivializing of depression(and anxiety disorders) because of the trend of family practitioners thinking they are adequately equipped to diagnose and treat it, usually by just throwing pills at the problem or "problem".
Yeah, I've had some classes, myself. Not to your extent, but I know. Ah well... Just a damn shame.LetalisK said:I wasn't coming at you or anything, just sharing information I happened to know. Also, "clinical depression" doesn't exist. It's just depression. "Clinical depression" is a made up term we as a society have concocted in our(probably unintentional) trivialization of depression as we label someone who is merely sad as "depressed", but reserve "clinical depression" for when we want everyone else to know we're being literal. Again, not coming at you, you probably already know this, I just have a background in psychology and I like to rant sometimes about how psychology is used and misused in the general public.
Also, you're correct that depression doesn't always win. I didn't mean to imply that. Also, I wasn't surprised that he was depressed considering it's rare that you have mania without depression as well. Depression without mania happens all the time, but not really the other way around. Actually, I take it back, as I was a little surprised considering he's been in addiction recovery for a long time and they tend to work on those issues too, but it's not wholly unsuspected.
Memorials aren't really for the deceased, they're for the living to express their love and esteem.Objectable said:Dear Internet: The best way to honor Robin Williams' life is to maybe *not* draw 10,000 shitty pictures of Aladdin crying over an empty lamp
I saw an interview with a doctor today who said that Robin was known to be very active and to exercise to deal with his depression. But Parkinson's would make exercise very difficult and even impossible as it progressed. It has been implied that being diagnosed with Parkinson's may have pushed him over the edge.Aiddon said:Okay, the Parkinson's thing does make a lot of sense. For someone as manic and energetic as Williams, Parkinson's would screw him up as it screws with motor skills and just walking. Williams' entire identity was based around how exuberant he was and for a disease that would take that away it'd be a huge hit to him.