Robin Williams...so sad

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

There are a very few people here who know about my own mental illness and have taken me seriously when I asked for help.

I have no doubt at all that I'll end up going out in a similar way to RW's choice. No doubt at all. It's a matter of time.

I'm not okay right now, but I don't have the courage he did.

Alas, you're all stuck with me for a while.

<hugs>

 

I'm sorry you have "so many sads" as my kids would say.

[Unicorn.]

edited out, as I'm sure she would want it that way....

 

I hope that you never, ever, find that kind of "courage".  You know we love you, and don't want to lose you.  I know it sucks, but I'm selfishly asking that you never make that choice.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[MomtoCandJ]

Well damn, that just sucks.

KK please seek help

[aggieamy]

A friend just texted me about Robin Williams.  Sad.  Sad sad sad.  

[mommaduck]

Memory Eternal. 

[mommaduck]

Memory Eternal. 

[idnib]

There are a very few people here who know about my own mental illness and have taken me seriously when I asked for help. 

I have no doubt at all that I'll end up going out in a similar way to RW's choice. No doubt at all. It's a matter of time.

I'm not okay right now, but I don't have the courage he did.

Alas, you're all stuck with me for a while. 

 

KK, you need help. If you're saying there's no doubt things will end this way, and see no other options, you need assistance ASAP.

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug: 

[Guest inoubliable]

Ugh. I didn't mean to turn this into being about me! I just meant that I was glad he'd found a way to not suffer anymore. I know that sounds weird to some, but it'll make sense to others. 

There's nothing I can do about my own situation. I don't mean to say that for attention! I meant that some people just can't be fixed. I can't. He couldn't. Others won't, either. He's not suffering anymore. I think that's a good thing. 

*sigh* I'm probably not explaining well. 

[Cindy in FL.]

I am so heartsick about this. He brought so much joy, it just breaks my heart that he struggled so much.

[umsami]

 

Quote from somebody who may delete it later: " I'm mostly amazed that he had the self control and courage to do it. Some of us haven't found that yet."

 

I used to feel that way when I read about people who committed suicide.  I finally did seek out help.  It took some time, but things really did get better. I am so very grateful that I never found the courage to kill myself.  I would have missed out on so much.

 

Please know that you can get anonymous help 1-800-273-8255

 

There are online forums/chat rooms where you can go.  http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

 

If you can't get a babysitter to watch the kids to see a therapist, you can also do counseling online.  

 

Edited for privacy reasons.

[sunflowerlady]

Hugs to all who are suffering.RIP Robin.

[Critterfixer]

Depression stinks. I'm not bold enough to put all the adjectives that should precede "stinks." I hate that disease. I've been through it once, I never want to go there again...

[Joanne]

Ugh. I didn't mean to turn this into being about me! I just meant that I was glad he'd found a way to not suffer anymore. I know that sounds weird to some, but it'll make sense to others. 

 

There's nothing I can do about my own situation. I don't mean to say that for attention! I meant that some people just can't be fixed. I can't. He couldn't. Others won't, either. He's not suffering anymore. I think that's a good thing. 

 

*sigh* I'm probably not explaining well. 

 

May I help?

 

The reason you posted what you did is that mental ILLNESS it just that. It is an ILLNESS. Something is wrong with your brain. It's the most under-researched, underfunded illness in comparison to the number of people who suffer. As such, you have limited choices for help, and your disease/illness progresses and you get sub-par treatment AND plenty of stigma.

 

Robin Williams didn't commit suicide - he died due to lack of adequate treatment which was created by generations of marginalization, disenfranchisement, disdain, and lack of care, funding, and advocacy.

 

The symptoms of his disease were life threatening.

 

{{KK}}

 

 

[Guest]

WHAT? I did not know! Omg...he was my favorite actor and comedian f all time. TERRIBLE!

[Jean in Newcastle]

dp

[Jean in Newcastle]

We watched a YouTube video of our favorite:  "Don't Worry, Be Happy" with Bobby McFerrin, Robin Williams (and someone else) in his honor.  This is how we choose remember him, hamming it up.  I'm so sorry for the hole in his family's hearts and lives.

[JFSinIL]

Depression is evil.  It won't let you remember the good times, or realize they can come again.  It will make you think your family will be better off without you.  My great-grandfather took his own life. One of my kids is battling the alternating depression and mania of bipolar, with panic attacks thrown in for "fun".  Depression is evil.  My heart goes out to William's family.  He will be missed.

[Mothersweets]

So sad to hear of his death. :(

 

 

 

 

 

KK, :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: .

[Catwoman]

:crying: :crying: :crying: :crying:

[unsinkable]

I'm mostly amazed he had the self control and courage to do it. Some of us haven't found that yet.

Hey you! Please don't ever "find" that...please.

 

You're loved by your boys and your family and friends. I love you.

 

Please call for help. I don't know what else to say.ive had a awful day. DD had a bunch of seizures and I have a houseful of outof town visitors.

 

Please please please call for help.

[PrairieSong]

I'm so sad about Robin, sad for his family.

 

KK, I'm sad for you, too. I know you said you didn't mean to turn this into a thread about you, but please seek help. My sister suffered from depression and took her own life twenty years ago. We were all devastated...my parents, her husband, me and my family, my brothers, her friends and coworkers. I can't even put into words how much we have missed her.

 

There are people who can help. When my sister's depression got bad, she was sure no one could help, but that was the disease talking. There is help. There are people who care.

 

I'm so sorry you're hurting. {{{{hugs}}}}

[unsinkable]

To all of you hurting, from any kind of illness:

It's not your fault.

 

[elegantlion]

A friend wrote this today when he heard about Robin Williams. It's his very personal words, but I thought it might help with the question of why and how? I'm sharing with his permission: 

 

Confused about Robin Williams? This might help.

So I just found out that Robin Williams is dead of an apparent suicide. When we hear about something like this, most of us are confused. Why would someone do that to themselves? Why would he put his family through that? Was he just taking the easy way out?

 

conclusion to some conscious decision reached in a state of cowardice or selfishness. The reality of the situation is more akin to a cancer patient succumbing to the disease.

 

No. Scratch that. Suicide is nothing like that. Individuals suffering from cancer have the love and support of everyone around them. Friends, family, coworkers, and people who might know someone they know rally to the call, hosting bake sales to cover medical costs and shaving their heads so that the patient doesn’t feel so strange when all his/her hair falls out from radiation and chemo.

 

Someone suffering from suicide suffers for years, sometimes decades. There is no support for the patient, only recommendations that they just “be happyâ€. Rather than raise money, those few people who acknowledge the problem distance themselves, everyone else pretends not to notice. Most friends and family don’t even have to pretend. Their beloved deteriorates before their eyes and they have no idea that anything is wrong.

 

Surrounded by shadows, the victim of depression suffers alone. Life is no longer an experience to be enjoyed, but to be feared. The day holds no wonderful possibilities, only the promise of pain. Each morning a victim might be forced to ask himself if he wants to live another day. Most days, he lies to himself and proceeds as if nothing is wrong. Mainly, the depressed roll through the day on autopilot, letting life happen around them because, if they make a conscious decision, they might make the wrong one.

 

Other days, they are more honest with themselves. When the question is asked, something that typically isn’t voluntary but comes as naturally as breathing, they answer the question with a true heart. If they’re lucky, they survive the incident. They don’t cut deep enough or the vomit up the sleeping pills. Someone might walk in on them. Or perhaps they take the coward’s way out… and put the gun down.

 

Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of courage to kill oneself. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this; how much blood could you draw from your own wrist before you chicken out? Could you wash down a whole bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of cheap whiskey? All of those “cowards†are quite capable.

 

Other days, the victim of depression doesn’t survive. The disease wins the battle and the term used for this is called “suicideâ€. It was never a conscious choice, no more than succumbing to cancer is a conscious choice.

 

A person suffering from depression is incapable of experiencing joy or satisfaction. Their brain doesn’t function properly. The right chemicals are lacking and the wrong ones are filling in the gaps. There’s a physical ailment, a real and tangible issue that exists in the brain and the symptoms are mostly behavioral and psychological. Essentially, the depressed individual is on a train heading for a cliff and the brakes have failed.

 

One might ask “well, why not just jump off the train?†But it’s not that simple. Depression isn’t that kind to offer an easy way out. No. Depression is a cruel sonofabitch. To the person stuck alone on a doomed path, the way out seems more terrifying and horrible than the prospect of sitting still and riding the train to the end of the track. The ground is jagged rock and broken glass. And compared to that, the idea of just falling into empty space is vastly preferable.

 

That does not mean that it’s an easy decision to make. No one ever decided to kill himself because it was easy. Sometimes, it’s just too hard not to.

 

 

I hope this helps people to understand how a person can end their own life. They’re not actually doing it. They’re dying slowly of a terrible disease that leaves their physical body intact while destroying the mind. The suicide is just the last moment of that slow and horrible process. Or at least that's how it felt to me.

 

[redsquirrel]

Depression is a liar. What ever it whispers in your ear at night, or in your happiest or weakest moments is a lie.

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I'm in shock. I grew up watching him. One of my all time favorites. 

[Guest]

Elegantlion, that is so correct. Depression is the loneliest mental alleyway. The only folks who understand are usually in no position to help.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

A friend wrote this today when he heard about Robin Williams. It's his very personal words, but I thought it might help with the question of why and how? I'm sharing with his permission:

Confused about Robin Williams? This might help.

 

 

So I just found out that Robin Williams is dead of an apparent suicide. When we hear about something like this, most of us are confused. Why would someone do that to themselves? Why would he put his family through that? Was he just taking the easy way out?

conclusion to some conscious decision reached in a state of cowardice or selfishness. The reality of the situation is more akin to a cancer patient succumbing to the disease.

 

No. Scratch that. Suicide is nothing like that. Individuals suffering from cancer have the love and support of everyone around them. Friends, family, coworkers, and people who might know someone they know rally to the call, hosting bake sales to cover medical costs and shaving their heads so that the patient doesn’t feel so strange when all his/her hair falls out from radiation and chemo.

 

Someone suffering from suicide suffers for years, sometimes decades. There is no support for the patient, only recommendations that they just “be happyâ€. Rather than raise money, those few people who acknowledge the problem distance themselves, everyone else pretends not to notice. Most friends and family don’t even have to pretend. Their beloved deteriorates before their eyes and they have no idea that anything is wrong.

 

Surrounded by shadows, the victim of depression suffers alone. Life is no longer an experience to be enjoyed, but to be feared. The day holds no wonderful possibilities, only the promise of pain. Each morning a victim might be forced to ask himself if he wants to live another day. Most days, he lies to himself and proceeds as if nothing is wrong. Mainly, the depressed roll through the day on autopilot, letting life happen around them because, if they make a conscious decision, they might make the wrong one.

 

Other days, they are more honest with themselves. When the question is asked, something that typically isn’t voluntary but comes as naturally as breathing, they answer the question with a true heart. If they’re lucky, they survive the incident. They don’t cut deep enough or the vomit up the sleeping pills. Someone might walk in on them. Or perhaps they take the coward’s way out… and put the gun down.

 

Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of courage to kill oneself. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this; how much blood could you draw from your own wrist before you chicken out? Could you wash down a whole bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of cheap whiskey? All of those “cowards†are quite capable.

 

Other days, the victim of depression doesn’t survive. The disease wins the battle and the term used for this is called “suicideâ€. It was never a conscious choice, no more than succumbing to cancer is a conscious choice.

 

A person suffering from depression is incapable of experiencing joy or satisfaction. Their brain doesn’t function properly. The right chemicals are lacking and the wrong ones are filling in the gaps. There’s a physical ailment, a real and tangible issue that exists in the brain and the symptoms are mostly behavioral and psychological. Essentially, the depressed individual is on a train heading for a cliff and the brakes have failed.

 

One might ask “well, why not just jump off the train?†But it’s not that simple. Depression isn’t that kind to offer an easy way out. No. Depression is a cruel sonofabitch. To the person stuck alone on a doomed path, the way out seems more terrifying and horrible than the prospect of sitting still and riding the train to the end of the track. The ground is jagged rock and broken glass. And compared to that, the idea of just falling into empty space is vastly preferable.

 

That does not mean that it’s an easy decision to make. No one ever decided to kill himself because it was easy. Sometimes, it’s just too hard not to.

 

 

I hope this helps people to understand how a person can end their own life. They’re not actually doing it. They’re dying slowly of a terrible disease that leaves their physical body intact while destroying the mind. The suicide is just the last moment of that slow and horrible process. Or at least that's how it felt to me.

 

Yes, exactly.

[dirty ethel rackham]

There are a very few people here who know about my own mental illness and have taken me seriously when I asked for help. 

I have no doubt at all that I'll end up going out in a similar way to RW's choice. No doubt at all. It's a matter of time.

I'm not okay right now, but I don't have the courage he did.

Alas, you're all stuck with me for a while. 

 

 

KK, there is lots of help available out there. You have kids. Your family is not better off without you.

:iagree:

As someone who has suffered from depression, I know that my kids are probably the reason I am still alive today. They are why I have not taken action when I so desperately wanted a way out from the pain.  They are the reason I have gotten treatment.  Please seek help.  You are too valuable to lose!

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

May I help?

 

The reason you posted what you did is that mental ILLNESS it just that. It is an ILLNESS. Something is wrong with your brain. It's the most under-researched, underfunded illness in comparison to the number of people who suffer. As such, you have limited choices for help, and your disease/illness progresses and you get sub-par treatment AND plenty of stigma.

 

Robin Williams didn't commit suicide - he died due to lack of adequate treatment which was created by generations of marginalization, disenfranchisement, disdain, and lack of care, funding, and advocacy.

 

The symptoms of his disease were life threatening.

 

{{KK}}

 

 

Thank you so much for saying this today.  You are very kind.  It was very needed. 

 

[sunflowerlady]

Joanne, I agree that what you said was helpful and needed. Thank you.

[Mergath]

I'm with KK in the hospital posting on my cell. She wanted me to let you guys know that she's getting help. She's having a really rough night and wanted me to ask you guys to just ignore what she posted and she'll delete it when she can.

[wintermom]

Such a tragic loss. He had a very special gift of touching people - with humour, and in so many other ways. He will be greatly missed, but thankfully his TV shows and movies are available so that he will not be forgotten.

[elegantlion]

Mergath, thank you - not quoting in case you want to delete. 

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Mergath, thank you for being there!

[Guest]

Mergath, thank you for being there to help our friend.

[redsquirrel]

Mergath, way to step up. And love and support to both of you.

[BrookValley.]

Hey, Mergath. Give KK a hug for me. I'm glad you're there for her!

 

:grouphug:

[texasmama]

(((hugs)))  KK

[dirty ethel rackham]

Mergath, Thank you for sharing.  I will sleep a little easier knowing she is taking positive steps. ETA:  And knowing that she has you. 

[Joanne]

 

A friend wrote this today when he heard about Robin Williams. It's his very personal words, but I thought it might help with the question of why and how? I'm sharing with his permission: 

 

Confused about Robin Williams? This might help.

So I just found out that Robin Williams is dead of an apparent suicide. When we hear about something like this, most of us are confused. Why would someone do that to themselves? Why would he put his family through that? Was he just taking the easy way out?

 

. 

 

 

 

 

I hope this helps people to understand how a person can end their own life. They’re not actually doing it. They’re dying slowly of a terrible disease that leaves their physical body intact while destroying the mind. The suicide is just the last moment of that slow and horrible process. Or at least that's how it felt to me.

 

 

I wrote something similar tonight at work to use in treatment:

 

 

Open Letter to Those Who Don’t Know,

 

Robin Williams didn’t die of suicide. (and Philip Seymor Hoffman didn’t die by overdose.) What these gentlemen died of were symptoms – symptoms of their diseases.

 

Mental illness is just that: ILLNESS. Something was wrong with, malfunctioning in their brain chemistry. They were not weak, not spiritually sick, not selfish.

 

They each suffered from a chronic, relapsing brain disease. Brain diseases that are one of the most prevalent, yet the most under funded, under researched, and under treated.

 

If either of these men had cancer, their relapse would be met with care, kindness, and solicitations for funds to identify, treat, and prevent their diseases.

 

But depression, and addiction and other mental health issues are given lip service as “illnesses†and “disease†but the meaning behind that is superficial. It’s not backed with legislation, protection, research for evidence based treatment delivered at the time of need. We throw platitudes and scripts at them, and hope they’ll go to meetings and STFU and get better.

 

Depressed people and addicts are messy; they make us angry and uncomfortable.

 

How many of you reading, when hearing of either of these deaths, did one google search to find out how YOU can help with seeking cures or treatment for these diseases?

 

The drugs that killed Philip and the action that killed Robin were simply symptoms of evil diseases in the context of a judgmental, ignorant society.

 

 

 

[idnib]

Thanks for the update Mergath. (Being vague here.)

[FaithManor]

Kk, we love you. Your family needs you. Don't let the disease win.

 

Mergath, you are very near to my heart tonight for being there for KK.

[Joker]

Mergath, you're a great friend!

 

:grouphug: KK :grouphug:

 

 

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm with KellyAnne in the hospital posting on my cell. She wanted me to let you guys know that she's getting help. She's having a really rough night and wanted me to ask you guys to just ignore what she posted and she'll delete it when she can.

You might PM a moderator. I am glad you are there for her. ((HUGS))

[albeto.]

n/m 

 

[fourcatmom]

:sad: :sad: :sad:

 

I am glad the poster here is getting help.  :grouphug:   Maybe something good can come out of something so sad. I will deeply miss his humor and smile.

[Unicorn.]

 

A friend wrote this today when he heard about Robin Williams. It's his very personal words, but I thought it might help with the question of why and how? I'm sharing with his permission: 

 

Confused about Robin Williams? This might help.

So I just found out that Robin Williams is dead of an apparent suicide. When we hear about something like this, most of us are confused. Why would someone do that to themselves? Why would he put his family through that? Was he just taking the easy way out?

 

conclusion to some conscious decision reached in a state of cowardice or selfishness. The reality of the situation is more akin to a cancer patient succumbing to the disease.

 

No. Scratch that. Suicide is nothing like that. Individuals suffering from cancer have the love and support of everyone around them. Friends, family, coworkers, and people who might know someone they know rally to the call, hosting bake sales to cover medical costs and shaving their heads so that the patient doesn’t feel so strange when all his/her hair falls out from radiation and chemo.

 

Someone suffering from suicide suffers for years, sometimes decades. There is no support for the patient, only recommendations that they just “be happyâ€. Rather than raise money, those few people who acknowledge the problem distance themselves, everyone else pretends not to notice. Most friends and family don’t even have to pretend. Their beloved deteriorates before their eyes and they have no idea that anything is wrong.

 

Surrounded by shadows, the victim of depression suffers alone. Life is no longer an experience to be enjoyed, but to be feared. The day holds no wonderful possibilities, only the promise of pain. Each morning a victim might be forced to ask himself if he wants to live another day. Most days, he lies to himself and proceeds as if nothing is wrong. Mainly, the depressed roll through the day on autopilot, letting life happen around them because, if they make a conscious decision, they might make the wrong one.

 

Other days, they are more honest with themselves. When the question is asked, something that typically isn’t voluntary but comes as naturally as breathing, they answer the question with a true heart. If they’re lucky, they survive the incident. They don’t cut deep enough or the vomit up the sleeping pills. Someone might walk in on them. Or perhaps they take the coward’s way out… and put the gun down.

 

Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of courage to kill oneself. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this; how much blood could you draw from your own wrist before you chicken out? Could you wash down a whole bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of cheap whiskey? All of those “cowards†are quite capable.

 

Other days, the victim of depression doesn’t survive. The disease wins the battle and the term used for this is called “suicideâ€. It was never a conscious choice, no more than succumbing to cancer is a conscious choice.

 

A person suffering from depression is incapable of experiencing joy or satisfaction. Their brain doesn’t function properly. The right chemicals are lacking and the wrong ones are filling in the gaps. There’s a physical ailment, a real and tangible issue that exists in the brain and the symptoms are mostly behavioral and psychological. Essentially, the depressed individual is on a train heading for a cliff and the brakes have failed.

 

One might ask “well, why not just jump off the train?†But it’s not that simple. Depression isn’t that kind to offer an easy way out. No. Depression is a cruel sonofabitch. To the person stuck alone on a doomed path, the way out seems more terrifying and horrible than the prospect of sitting still and riding the train to the end of the track. The ground is jagged rock and broken glass. And compared to that, the idea of just falling into empty space is vastly preferable.

 

That does not mean that it’s an easy decision to make. No one ever decided to kill himself because it was easy. Sometimes, it’s just too hard not to.

 

 

I hope this helps people to understand how a person can end their own life. They’re not actually doing it. They’re dying slowly of a terrible disease that leaves their physical body intact while destroying the mind. The suicide is just the last moment of that slow and horrible process. Or at least that's how it felt to me.

 

 

This is a good description, but I disagree with the red.  They don't suffer alone- loved ones and friends are suffering, because they can't help.  They aren't without support, but it's more like the one w/ depression is inside a room with bullet proof glass walls, and those trying/wanting to help are beating on those walls futilely, and can't get in, no matter how hard they try.  We can take them to get help, make them take meds, do everything we are supposed to do, and sometimes it just isn't enough. But they do not suffer alone and unnoticed.  

[J-rap]

I'm so very sad to hear about Robin Williams.  It sounds like he had a sad and lonely childhood.  He was brave for a long time. 

 

I hope the poster here gets help that will be lasting and permanent.

 

 

[Catwoman]

I'm with (removed name for privacy) in the hospital posting on my cell. She wanted me to let you guys know that she's getting help. She's having a really rough night and wanted me to ask you guys to just ignore what she posted and she'll delete it when she can.

You're such a good friend, Mergath. :grouphug:

 

I know she wouldn't want prayers, but please let her know I'll be thinking about her and sending her positive healing thoughts.

[Corraleno]

This was the tweet from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences:

 

Genie, you're free.

 

 

:crying: