Robin Williams dead at 63

[Munch]

The only one of his films I can genuinely say I hate is "Patch Adams," but it's not because of Robin Williams himself. Besides being just plain stupid, it made a mockery of the real Patch Adams; and in the words of the man himself, "The film promised to build our hospital. None of the profits from the film ever came to us, and so, basically 40 years into this work, we are still trying to build our hospital."

Seriously, just go watch the Nostalgia Critic review of that movie. They explain it a lot better than I can here.

I was going to say the same, the director of patch adams didn't take into account the real story of it, and just had robin williams do what he does best in the role. Patch Adams said he hated the movie because it didn't portray the real him. I don't blame Williams for that though.

[Berati]

I was off grid camping for a few days. Just heard about this. Sad to see that it appears that he just could not defeat the booze and depression.
I thought his acting was hit and miss, but when it was a hit it was really good. Favorite two movies are The Fisher King, the World according to Garp.

[aitm]

I am not the best person when it comes to celebrity deaths or illnesses or even life problems.  I do not give them such a place in my life that grants them such status. I am not trying to be an ass, but I do not put people who make a living out of faking their emotions special status. I don't dislike the guy, but I don't have him on any type of pedestal. Sorry he is dead, but hey....in the long and short.... he had it pretty easy in this world. I can't feel any special empathy for him.

[stromboli]

I am not the best person when it comes to celebrity deaths or illnesses or even life problems.  I do not give them such a place in my life that grants them such status. I am not trying to be an ass, but I do not put people who make a living out of faking their emotions special status. I don't dislike the guy, but I don't have him on any type of pedestal. Sorry he is dead, but hey....in the long and short.... he had it pretty easy in this world. I can't feel any special empathy for him.

This^.  Whenever I see casts of TV shows like Friends getting enormous salaries, it makes me wonder what our priorities are. Paying someone a million an episode whose job it is to pretend to be someone they are not is somehow out of kilter. Considering the fact that there are hundreds of actors out of work for everyone employed, it seems ludicrous to me.

[Mr.Obvious]

I'm always sorry to hear if someone resorts to suicide. It's saddening to realize someone would acually choose death over life.
It sure is going to be weird to see him in movies, say especially his comedies, and think to yourself; he wound up killing himself.

[SGOS]

This^.  Whenever I see casts of TV shows like Friends getting enormous salaries, it makes me wonder what our priorities are. Paying someone a million an episode whose job it is to pretend to be someone they are not is somehow out of kilter. Considering the fact that there are hundreds of actors out of work for everyone employed, it seems ludicrous to me.

I've thought the same thing before.  While it does require skill, it's a weird skill.  I guess it has something to do with people's obsession with celebrities.  Celebrities become valuable, because people seem to need them.

[SGOS]

It sure is going to be weird to see him in movies, say especially his comedies, and think to yourself; he wound up killing himself.

Or when they meet some other tragic end.  I have an especially strong reaction when I watch an old Police Squad movie and see OJ Simpson doing a wonderful job of slapstick comedy.  I keep thinking to myself that he's incredibly funny with a true gift, but his real calling seems to be habitually breaking the law.  It's like he's gone and I can't wish him back.

[SGOS]

I'm always sorry to hear if someone resorts to suicide. It's saddening to realize someone would acually choose death over life.

It's a serious issue for addictive personalities.  At least as far as I can tell from personal experience.  In my first 3 years in AA, I saw 5 people kill themselves, whereas in my previous 50 some years of life, I probably knew personally 3 people who had committed suicide.

You're talking to a guy on Saturday night at an AA meeting, and then on Monday, you're told he killed himself over the weekend.  I believe all of these people I knew also had issues with depression or other mental issues.  Maybe the depression caused both the alcoholism and the suicide.  I don't know.  Whatever; It seems Williams was dealing with both.

Like you, I still can't imagine choosing death over life.  I guess I don't know what it's like to suffer from depression.  It's outside my personal experience.  I can't fully understand feeling that blue.  Over the years, I've hit my personal emotional bottoms, but I've never considered killing myself.

[StupidWiz]

I've been dealing with depression my whole life. It feels like there's no point in living. The feeling like, everybody would not miss me or care about me if I died. Also, there's a lot of "what if" scenarios that is running through your head, blaming the condition that caused you to reach the point of where you are right now, blaming what you should or should not have done and knowing that those moments will never come back to you. You're feeling missed out of something that you believe could have been the true happiness, the only way for you to be happy. Feeling disgust to fakeness that everyone has to wear like masks whenever you're interacting with them. Probably because you're feeling envious at other people whom you believe have achieved the definition of your happiness. Ultimately, there's this feeling that no matter what people do to reach you, you'll always think that they can never understand you.

Some things that have been helping me when those feelings visit me is distractions. Playing games, chatting on FB, fooling around with my brothers, don't let those feelings engulf you, occupy your mind. The thought of there's no god, no one can help me but myself also helps me redefine happiness for me, trying to change my perspective about life and accept the fact that this is my life, as unsatisfying as it is, this is the only life I've got, I don't want to waste it by having pity party and keep feeling alone. I am my knight in shining armor, I am the one who can lift myself from that quicksand of despair. Finally, if all have been done and those feelings are still there, I just go to sleep. Expect the next morning to be like starting over and try to forget the things that make you depressed.

I realize not everyone has the same perspective as mine and I'm not trying to undermine other's experience of depression. I'm just merely describing what I've been through and how I deal with it. I realize that there are other factors that caused Robin Williams to kill himself. Maybe he's been doing what I'm doing and then at age 63, he said, "Enough, this is it." Who knows, and probably no one will ever know.

[StupidWiz]

If anyone's interested to learn more about depression, this guy describes it eloquently.

[Munch]

It is horrible how he died, a man feeling so lost in life he can't carry on living it and takes his own.

But, in a way, out of the tragic situation of his death, something good may come from it. Suicide has always been an issue thats hard to tackle, and often its forgotten in the public eye. When an everyday man or woman kills themselves, it doesn't reach people in a far reaching way. However when someone famous kills themselves, it has far reaching notice to people across the world, an actor who people have known for years and across the globe suddenly kills himself, it becomes world wide news, and thus more focus on help given to suicide prevention services.

At least thats a theory anyway.

[Shiranu]

It's come out recently that he was struggling with early stage Parkinson's.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Wife-Robin-Williams-had-early-Parkinson-s-5689032.php

[SGOS]

It's come out recently that he was struggling with early stage Parkinson's.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Wife-Robin-Williams-had-early-Parkinson-s-5689032.php

Odd too.  My favorite movie of his was Awakenings, where he played a doctor trying to make life meaningful for a bunch of patients with a Parkinson's related disease.

[Berati]

I've found that people constantly forget that mental illness is an ILLNESS.
About two years ago my mother fell pretty suddenly into a depression with lots of anxiety. She would cry every day almost all day long, she stopped eating to the point where she fainted and fell, broke her upper arm.
All along though, many of my family and friends were looking for something that would have driven her to depression. It was her mothers death a few years ago, or it was the fight she was having with her sister. No one looks for these kinds of reasons if you suddenly got cancer!
So, my mother went through several different types of meds until a new psychiatrist came up with a dosage that changed things 100%. She is now back to normal.

[SGOS]

I've found that people constantly forget that mental illness is an ILLNESS.
About two years ago my mother fell pretty suddenly into a depression with lots of anxiety. She would cry every day almost all day long, she stopped eating to the point where she fainted and fell, broke her upper arm.
All along though, many of my family and friends were looking for something that would have driven her to depression. It was her mothers death a few years ago, or it was the fight she was having with her sister. No one looks for these kinds of reasons if you suddenly got cancer!
So, my mother went through several different types of meds until a new psychiatrist came up with a dosage that changed things 100%. She is now back to normal.

^Right on!  You can look for reasons like that until you're blue in the face.  But it's body chemistry that is just out of tune.