How Do You Feel About Robin Williams?

How do people who suffer from depression feel when someone like Robin Williams
commits suicide?

I do not suffer from depression. Maybe that's why, even though I am sad he is gone,
I'm mad at him and think... What a waste! Such a talented and gifted man who brought
so much laughter to the world. Such comedic and acting genius snuffed out forever.
And his poor wife, children, colleagues, fans and friends whom he has left behind to mourn.
This surely offsets some of the happiness he brought, no?

What is a depressed person's perspective of his death?

I don't want to feel angry at him... I hear he was a wonderful, loving and caring
man.

Also, I think he was always on, you know. He could never shut off, never really relax.
Even with all of his money, he couldn't escape to peaceful places that would soothe
his soul or find a solution for his inner pain?

Prairie gal wrote:I'm mad at him and think... What a waste! Such a talented and gifted man who brought
so much laughter to the world. Such comedic and acting genius snuffed out forever.
And his poor wife, children, colleagues, fans and friends whom he has left behind to mourn.
This surely offsets some of the happiness he brought, no?

I could see why someone who doesn't have clinical depression could be frustrated at such thing. Speaking as someone who has only known depression for the past decade (my entire adult/teenage life), I feel exactly the opposite. When I hear about something like this, it feels more like "Well, it just goes to show, doesn't it." It seems like an inevitability. I guess when you are in the abyss of depression as well, it's entirely reasonable to us to see why someone would eventually succumb to that eternal hopelessness.

To be completely honest, I'm more impressed with him than anything. The fact that he was able to spread so much joy and to last to the ripe age of 63 for his family despite the darkness inside of him is staggering to me. Then again, I don't know how long he's had to deal with it for.

I've suffered from depression for a long time, but this past weekend I started thinking very seriously about suicide. Not just my typical suicidal ideation, but real "I'm-starting-to-make-a-plan" type stuff, so the story is closer to me than it otherwise would have been. My first feeling is that I sincerely hope he's found peace. The idea of being mad at him, or even sad for him being gone doesn't cross my mind. I just hope his pain is over. If you've been there you know why, and you can't begrudge someone their escape from it. It's hell. I also hope his family can find peace, although that will obviously be very challenging and take a long time.

This will probably seem very callous, but knowing that he suffered from depression also makes me feel slightly better about myself. It makes me feel less isolated knowing that this guy suffered too; it makes me feel less pathetic that this talented, accomplished guy couldn't just "choose to get over it" either. I even feel slightly proud that I'm still here. Again, maybe callous, but that's the reality.

Cornelius wrote:This will probably seem very callous

But the reality is all the things you said are positive, good things. It's both a testament to the man that Robin Williams was, and a brief respite to put your mind at ease.

I was saddened to hear of Robin Williams' death in a way that I am normally not when it comes to celebrities who I will never know personally. Mork and Mindy was running on television when I was about ten years old, and Robin Williams' style was something that I had never seen before in my young life. He was inspiring, and I wanted become a stand-up comedian until I came to my senses. He was the king of the one-liner and inspired my love of the witty comeback. I also learned from him that you could do a lot more with your voice than most people think.

His death hit me harder than any since Douglas Adams died.

But I can totally understand it.

It's hard for people to relate to the idea that someone could be otherwise completely healthy and yet live in such unimaginable torment that they find death is preferable to another moment of existence. The pain is indescribable.

These are the kind of thoughts that run uncontrollably through my mind at those times: there is nothing but now, and now is forever. This is eternity. Hell is here. People will grieve when I die, I know this, but after the grief passes, they will realize that they really are better off without me. I deserve to be hated. I killed my pet by mistake. Nothing is worth enduring this nightmare for.

It's so hard to convey the sheer extremity of the agony to someone who's never been there. But I hope this helps you understand where it's coming from.

Take care.

I feel so sad for him, that he suffered so badly in that dark place many of us know of. And in silence it seems to. Don't be mad at him, the fact he left no suicide note as an indicator of how desperate he was.

Now I see an outpouring of support from celebrities talking about depression and of course that can only be a good thing, but now people all over facebook are talking about their depression suddenly and I don't understand. Maybe I'm missing something but I am completely unable to talk to anyone but one person, or ask for help. I feel as though the people saying "I was depressed for a long time but I did this that and the other and got myself out of it, all you need to do is ask for help!", undermine how hard it can be to ask for help when your brain is telling you that you don't deserve it, no one cares and you're making it up for attention anyway.

I just keep thinking, that poor man. I hope you are at peace now

I have had deperession, deep, dark and desperate depression. It's hitting me a little hard right now because of family issues. Then I heard about Robin Williams and I just cried. I'm selfish, I cried for me, for him and for everyone on the brink who wont get that help. I cried for all the times I tried and really hurt my family and people who loved me.

He isn't a waste at all. I was listening to comedians talk about how they all have that darkness inside of them. One guy said something like you can't be a great comedian without it. I am a big fan and every year I treat myself to a movie fest, just 1 per year, I have a list and watch them all day. 3 of the are Robin Williams movies.

He's made a lot of people laugh and feel good. He was a genius, brilliant one of a kind guy. He gave 110% of himself in everything he did. All the while battling his inner turmoil and hiding it from the world.

He didn't have "all that money," he was having bad financial difficulties too. He even did that snickers commercial to earn some money. Watch him on the tv comedy he was last in, if you look, it seems like a part of him was dying right in front of us. I don't know the name of the show, only commercials and I didn't like how I saw him, couldn't bear to watch what they were doing to him. (Heavily directed, fed lines, not allowed to do his thing). It wasn't him

I am not mad. I am terribly sad. I think it's ok to feel sad about it.

One good thing about it? At least here in America, not sure about other places, mental health issues will be out of the closet for a while and front and center. Maybe some people will be helped during that time before everyone puts it right back in the closet.

I used to work for 911 and had a lot of calls from people saying they were going to kill themselves. I was always successful until one day on Christmas Eve a man I was trying to talk down shot himself while I was on the phone with him. I kept yelling trying to get his attention, not wanting to believe what I heard. My supervisor came over to me and turned my phone off and told me it was over. I took my headset off went out to my car and cried for an hour and went home without one word to anyone. That will never leave me. Ever.

So for me it's bringing up a lot of sad memories.

I was shocked and saddened when I heard the news. A few things have gone through my mind about it all. On the one hand I feel validated that someone as talented and successful as him still struggled incredibly with thoughts of suicide. It just proves that it is a very difficult, dark, hopeless place to find yourself. I also felt tremendous regret. Regret for him not being able to triumph and likely all the regret I personally have for myself over all my failings and weaknesses. Envious that he is free and I am not. Though it really doesn't matter who it is, if I hear a story of someone dying no matter how they died I wish it was me. And finally it dredged up a lot of fear. Fear that I am doomed to never getting past this.

As for the man himself I have nothing but respect and admiration for him. Anger was never a thought that crossed my mind because I can relate. It's never about wanting to hurt those that love us, it's about ending a tremendous pain in our core that consumes you. You just want the pain and despair to end. My favorite movie of his is What Dreams May Come and it isn't a comedy. It's a movie about depression and mental hell. In it his children die and then he later dies and as a result his wife already depressed about the kids death kills herself. Robin is trying to help his wife back from the self imposed hell she has wound up in the afterlife due to her dark thoughts. He is successful at bringing her back. I wonder if he took on the role because of his own struggles. I do hope his soul is healing now from all the pain he has felt. And I hope he is being made aware how much he was loved and adored.

I can relate to Robin Williams. I recently attempted suicide. I couldn't cope with my strong suicidal thoughts I had. I was severely depressed and medicine didn't help one bit. I did attempt and was almost successful. I wasn't thinking that others didn't understand the terrible pain I was going through. I would have been leaving behind a husband and three beautiful daughters not to mention a brand new car and brand new house. All this, as great as loved ones are and as great as new things are, didn't keep me alive. I was suffering intensely. I can personally understand terrible mental suffering because I have gone through it. Maybe, unless you have experienced it, you just cannot know what it is to go through it, or find any sympathy for those who do go through this.