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When I heard Robin had passed I had assumed it was from depression, but what does that even mean? This essay has really challenged me to go deeper on what menta

When I heard Robin had passed I had assumed it was from depression, but what does that even mean? This essay has really challenged me to go deeper on what mental illness is- a disease just like cancer that has causes which can be mechanical. It's heart-breaking to think of a person with no way out of rapid decline other than to check out early.

Theodores 10y ago
Some reality please... Robin Williams, by his own admission, was a life-long drink and drug user. If he wasn't on the class 'A' drugs then he was drinking to excess. If he was 'cold turkey' in re-hab then he was on other prescription drugs, none of them needed by normal people on a day to day basis. I am sure that with each hangover and come-down there was something telling Robin Williams that some part of his brain was being fried, even if he would prefer to look for another drink rather than dwell on the negatives. I do know people in their late teens and early twenties that drink 'Robin Williams style' and I fully imagine they will have fully scrambled brains by the time they get to middle age, if they get that far. I don't have much influence over them, however, those people with 'stardust' on them do. Therefore it would be better if the unvarnished truth were told through true stories, i.e. 'drink and drugs will kill you, look what happened to so-and-so rock/movie star' rather than pretend that some evil tooth fairy randomly gave our great hero some cruel disease. Why do some people take drink/drugs? Why do some people need to be funny? What traumatic things happen to a child to make them a comedy genius? Why isn't that enough and a fall into drink/drug abuse practically certain? Instead of these questions we have 'the terrorist inside my husband's brain' as the viewpoint.
- Lxr 10y ago
  Do you have any evidence that drinking/drug taking leads to LBD? Otherwise, this is just a classic it-won't-happen-to-me-because-I-do-X justification (see: I won't get cancer because I eat well, I won't have a car accident because I'm a good driver, etc) which is pretty harsh to those who are affected.
- losteverything 10y ago
  If you said that to me after my sibling died i"d punch you in the mouth (or if possible I'd make it so you never can die, a fate worse than death). Respect the living by respecting the dead. Even if everything you say is true or if he was a Martian or of he was a programmer he is gone. Some time people simply make mistakes with words. You have a chance to delete your comment. Keep your words from others' eyes and ears
cloudjacker 10y ago
It was widely reported that the "comedian" was "suffering from depression" It fed into an existing trope and nobody was willing to have the conversation that would challenge that, or if they did it was viewed as insensitive and downvoted to the point of censorship

Theodores 10y ago

Some reality please... Robin Williams, by his own admission, was a life-long drink and drug user. If he wasn't on the class 'A' drugs then he was drinking to excess. If he was 'cold turkey' in re-hab then he was on other prescription drugs, none of them needed by normal people on a day to day basis. I am sure that with each hangover and come-down there was something telling Robin Williams that some part of his brain was being fried, even if he would prefer to look for another drink rather than dwell on the negatives. I do know people in their late teens and early twenties that drink 'Robin Williams style' and I fully imagine they will have fully scrambled brains by the time they get to middle age, if they get that far. I don't have much influence over them, however, those people with 'stardust' on them do. Therefore it would be better if the unvarnished truth were told through true stories, i.e. 'drink and drugs will kill you, look what happened to so-and-so rock/movie star' rather than pretend that some evil tooth fairy randomly gave our great hero some cruel disease. Why do some people take drink/drugs? Why do some people need to be funny? What traumatic things happen to a child to make them a comedy genius? Why isn't that enough and a fall into drink/drug abuse practically certain? Instead of these questions we have 'the terrorist inside my husband's brain' as the viewpoint.

Lxr 10y ago
Do you have any evidence that drinking/drug taking leads to LBD? Otherwise, this is just a classic it-won't-happen-to-me-because-I-do-X justification (see: I won't get cancer because I eat well, I won't have a car accident because I'm a good driver, etc) which is pretty harsh to those who are affected.
losteverything 10y ago
If you said that to me after my sibling died i"d punch you in the mouth (or if possible I'd make it so you never can die, a fate worse than death). Respect the living by respecting the dead. Even if everything you say is true or if he was a Martian or of he was a programmer he is gone. Some time people simply make mistakes with words. You have a chance to delete your comment. Keep your words from others' eyes and ears

cloudjacker 10y ago

It was widely reported that the "comedian" was "suffering from depression" It fed into an existing trope and nobody was willing to have the conversation that would challenge that, or if they did it was viewed as insensitive and downvoted to the point of censorship