<p>Very articulate and thoughtful statement by his D. So very sad for her and all the loved ones RW left behind. Sounds like he was a very loving dad. </p>
<p>I think it’s hard to understand, from the outside, the difference between clinical depression and being “depressed” or sad as a reaction to bad things that have happened to you. I was once on a medication that was a stimulant, and when I went off of it, I got depressed. It was not like being sad at all–it didn’t help to realize that it was because of the chemical effect of the drug.</p>
<p>Anyone have a link to the brothers’ statements she referenced?</p>
<p>I also loved her response to negative posts!</p>
<p>Here you go…</p>
<p><a href=“Robin Williams' Kids Zak, Zelda, and Cody Release Emotional Statements”>Robin Williams' Kids Zak, Zelda, and Cody Release Emotional Statements;
<p>^^^^Thanks. I was wondering what it would be like for the ex-wives who loved him but just couldn’t make the marriage within the context that was every day life for them both…</p>
<p>This was posted elsewhere. Very poignant</p>
<p><a href=“Robin Williams and mental illness: When depression is breaking news.”>Robin Williams and mental illness: When depression is breaking news.;
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<p>Depression is very painful. You hear about the loved ones of a person who has battled a lenghty terminal illness giving them “permission” to stop treatment, permission to pass on. But I’ve never heard of family members doing the same to a loved one who has suffered greatly with depression. (I’m not advocating for that; I’m just making a comparison.)</p>
<p>If you knew someone with severe, chronic pain that they had lived with for their entire adult life, that no legal drugs could alleviate, you might understand at some level if they decided they had endured enough, and put an end to it …if the agony was never to get better, how could you wish for someone to live like that? </p>
<p>If you think of severe clinical depression in the same light, you can perhaps understand why someone would have had enough of the pain. And it’s fairly easy to understand drug and alcohol abuse, if that is what takes the pain away for a short while.</p>
<p>I greatly mourn Robin Williams’ death, but perhaps he just couldn’t stand the agony any longer.</p>
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<p>Busdriver…Don’t forget the depression and suicide in this movie. It’s a very unique perspective on heaven and hell. I found it rather disturbing, but would still recommend it.</p>
<p>Joesph Arthur wrote a tribute.
<a href=“Joseph Arthur - Robin (A Tribute to Robin Williams 1951-2014) - YouTube”>Joseph Arthur - Robin (A Tribute to Robin Williams 1951-2014) - YouTube;
<p>Lovely, moving and poignant; thanks for sharing that.</p>
<p>Well said, missypie.</p>
<p>He seemed to be under financial pressure, much greater than most of us experience, which meant he needed to spend much time away from his home and family, resulting in negative impact to his health.</p>
<p><a href=“Robin Williams resented having to do Mrs Doubtfire 2, says friend”>http://m.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/robin-williams-resented-having-to-do-mrs-doubtfire-2-says-friend-20140814-103vc6.html</a></p>
<p>All of these words are touching. That said, I think that no one who hasn’t been so overwhelmed as to end their own life just has no idea. I know I have felt depressed and even out of my mind despondent but clearly I was able to “take a walk, find someone else to help, or even wait it out” but imagine this…your mind is racing at warp speed and you can’t even see you’re so blinded by the moments that turn into hours of anguish…well…this happens…It is tragic, and I really cannot fathom my “head talk” ever getting to this place, but there are a million things I can’t fathom doing that some people do, every day. I am overwhelmed with sadness that some people are so filled with such a depth of grief and anguish. </p>
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But depression isn’t a terminal; illness. It is debilitating, but it is usually cyclical and treatable.</p>
<p>I had an aunt with depression, wasn’t really able to be treated after a while. For many years a drug worked, then started to hurt her kidney’s, nothing else worked as well and she went on a lot over the years. (Had some of the best doctors at Yale) Seeing her just sit, sometimes smile, but never to be her old self again was hard on her and the family. It’s hard to describe, Grandchildren, weddings, etc, you would tire of hearing people say, “I thought this would break through the sadness”. Many really need more education on depression and the levels of it. Everyone experiences it differently and many can hide it well. Toward the end, a few who saw Robin said he aged years in a few months, had periods when he’d try but you could see him alone looking different, sad. The mask is harder and harder to put on at times. </p>
<p>Thats true- that the neurotransmitter receptor sites do change after prolonged treatment with the antidepressants. Thats why patients need to sometimes change meds, or be on combinations of meds. When it becomes treatment refractory, thats when the more aggressive treatments (ECT, TMS, DBS, or a VNS which is the implantation of a vagal nerve stimulator), are considered. Prolonged depression in the elderly is challenging to treat. </p>
<p>Reports that he started driinking again before going to rehab which is not at all surprising despite his publicist’s denials. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/robin-williams-attended-alcoholics-anonymous-4047946”>http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/robin-williams-attended-alcoholics-anonymous-4047946</a></p>
<p>Wouldnt that be an expected event before finding the strenght to go in for treatment?</p>
<p>It is incredibly difficult to get help. One reason why I am not currently in treatment, other than to see my shrink for 15 minutes every couple months is because therapy is incredibly painful and medication makes me feel like the life has been sucked out of my body.
For some addictive substances give them a brief respite from that.
Albeit too brief and they end up feeling even worse.</p>
<p>Completely agree it would be expected. And, it was evident from photos. But, it had been denied. </p>
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<p>I agree, but neither are other tremendously painful conditions. Let’s say a person has horribly painful migraines 20 days out of every month. No treatment has been successful, no medication will make the pain subside. Let’s say that the migraines are not a result of condition that will shorten the person’s life, that the person can expect to live to be 80. How long should the person be expected to live in severe pain 2/3rds of the time? A decade, 30 years, 50 years? Would that person’s relatives truly think it was selfish if the person decided that 50 years were enough, and didn’t want the pain to go on for another 10 or 20? I’m not advocating for suicide. I’m just saying that sometimes people fight a good fight, but feel they cannot take the pain any longer.</p>