Robin Williams - Dead at 63

[gmh1013]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

I've got some experience in this area and I can tell you that I wish I had answers.

I think that in most cases of suicide, it is caused by distorted thinking that is very common in depression. People are not rational and the chemical imbalances that they have cause them to feel worse than most of us can imagine.

I don't know anything about William's life or the details of his condition, but I don't think it's that common for people to kill themselves because they get a Parkinson's diagnosis.

It's not even common to my knowledge for people who get a cancer diagnosis to commit suicide right off the bat, even if depression is common among those who are newly diagnosed, which is the case with a friend of mine now. Some may reject treatment or choose to end treatment, but it seems that most will give treatment a reasonable chance.

I have a friend who calls me a couple of times a year to tell me that she's ready to end it all. It's a very difficult thing to get these calls out of nowhere, especially when a few weeks earlier everything was fine and nothing's really changed.

Although I was clinically trained, my experience has more to do with direct services and case management, so this was not my forte, but I haven't met anyone who really has any answers, only theories.

What answers there may be are lost with the victim and I personally think that after a period of grief at the loss, it's best not to question too much.

The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one gets through many a dark night.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche