Posted on 08/12/2014 1:28:29 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
I’m not normally one to write a blog post about a dead celebrity, but then I suppose there is no such thing.
There are only living celebrities, not dead ones. In death, wealth and prestige decay and we are brought into a new reality, the only reality there is or ever was — one which, for much better or much worse, doesn’t care at all about our popularity or our money.
The death of Robin Williams is significant not because he was famous, but because he was human, and not just because he left this world, but particularly because he apparently chose to leave it.
Suicide.
(Excerpt) Read more at themattwalshblog.com ...
And depressing as hell, IMO.
“What about Christians who commit suicide”.
They were not right with the Lord. It is impossible to love the Lord and live your life for the Lord and kill yourself.
It’s the most selfish act a person could do. You are telling the Lord that His creation was not good enough for you. You know better than He did.
I’m not a doctor. I suffered from clinical depression for years until I got help. I attempted suicide too. If your friend were serious he’d have killed himself a long time ago. Is he on any medication or seeking treatment?
While that sounds good, it’s a lot tougher than it looks. as the parent of an 11 year old who is being treated for anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia or bi polar disorder (they won’t diagnose children until late teens), all we can do at home is live a good clean Christ centered life style in hopes that she sees this.
However, this child will do whatever it is she is feeling, regardless of the outcome. She can sit down with any psychiatrist or behavioral psychologist, and has multiple times, and can tell them exactly what she did wrong, cite the house rules verbatim but cannot for the life of her stop herself from repeating her same actions.
So the only thing we can do is pray for her, and the strength for ourselves to continue with this situation on a daily basis!
Oh dear. Bless you.
People need help and when you don’t feel
You are even worth help you can’t make yourself go get it. When you are suicidal you aren’t selfish though it is a selfish act. But feeling that way often translates as “ I am a huge mistake on this planet and I would be helping everyone by leaving. “
We must feel kindness and pity toward him. He wasn’t a coward, he was an imperfect human.
He was struggling with faith issues recently. I heard an interview today with the guy who runs the family movie ratings website. Robin threw out all the other press guys at a junket just to continue a deep discussion on addiction and faith with this man.
We struggle. He doesn’t deserve to be called a coward. Bipolar is the deepest depression you can have, and substance abuse only makes it harder.
The dude was bi-polar. Different deal than just losing it all.
Had a friend, who 8 years ago lost his life to the voices and demons in his head.
He counseled our returning vets for years.
Everyone thought he was happy and fine.
Whatever happened to him in Vietnam left him at one point in his life with debilitating PTSD.
Then it seemed for years he had come to terms with whatever haunted him but, ultimately PTSD took him.
He shot himself in a park that I have no choice but to pass on my way into town.
I think of him often and sometimes think maybe I should have kept his medals and citations, as his Dad implored.
He couldn’t bear the burden of them in his care, I was not man enough to take them.
Mental disease is very real and can very much kill you.
One day you’ve got it licked or at least managed. Then one day the stories, so disconnected from reality but, reality enough for you take hold. Until one day the stories, words and visions your mind tells you over and over and over keeo you awake at night and then suddenly. ..it’s more than you can take and the only way to make the pain disappear is the end.
Williams, like my friend, had a chronic mental disability.
In no way is Williams condition on par with PTSD but, that both conditions can drive you to the isn’t more or less noble.
It’s just over.
I have seen real clinical depression up close and personal. People who suffer real depression are at a much higher risk of committing suicide than the general population. Is it a choice? Sure, but the illness of severe depression (which is a real biological disorder ) forces the affected to believe ending their life is the only way to end the pain. Had Robin Williams not suffered with depression, he would have never made that choice.
Let me quote from Ken White of the Popehat blog:
“Depression is not like sadness. Everyone has been sad. Everyone has been depressed on one occasion or another. But clinical depression is something else entirely.
“What is it like?
“Forgive me, but I’d like for you to imagine the worst day of your life. Maybe someone you love was killed in an accident. Maybe a loved one got a terrifying diagnosis. Maybe you abruptly lost a job you need to support your family. Maybe you caught your husband or wife cheating on you. Maybe you found out your son or daughter is addicted to drugs. Maybe you experienced some dreadful public humiliation.
“Remember how that felt, at the worst part of that day? Now imagine you feel that way most of the time, for months at a time.
“Think of the most stressed and worried you have ever been in your life, and then imagine that your stomach feels like that all the time.
“Imagine that you are constantly gripped with overwhelming feelings of dread and crushing hopelessness — irrational, not governed by real risks or challenges, but still inexorable.
“Imagine that you are often fatigued to the point of weakness and irritability because you can’t get to sleep until late at night, or because your mind consistently shakes you awake at four in the morning, racing with worry about the day’s activities as your stomach roils and knots.
“Imagine that most social interactions become painful, the cause of nameless dread. Imagine that when the phone rings or your computer dings with a new email you get a short, hot, foul shot of adrenaline, sizzling in your fingertips and bitter in your mouth.
“Imagine that, however much you understand the causes of these symptoms intellectually, no matter how well you know that you are fully capable of meeting the challenges you face and surviving them, no matter how well you grasp that these feelings are a symptom of a disease, you can’t stop feeling this way.
“Imagine that you have moments — maybe even minutes — where you forget how you feel, but those moments are almost worse, because when they end and you remember the feelings rush back in like a dark tide that much more painfully.
“Imagine that you know you should talk to someone about how you feel — but you can’t bring yourself to do so. Have you ever been so nauseated — from illness or from drinking — that you can’t bear for someone to touch you or talk to you? Imagine feeling like that — that the human interactions that might ease the pain are too painful to endure, that every word on the subject is a blow.”
The clinical presentation of depression often develops from psychological pressures.
My mother threatened suicide often when I was a teenager. She would go out in the middle of the night and park at the edge of a quarry or head for the turnpike, intending to do a u-turn and drive against traffic. For one reason or another, she always gave up and returned home at dawn, in time to go to work. She said that the reason was that she had too many responsibilities to end her life.
I thought so.
I set the trap. You willingly walked into it.
You are an ignorant moron. You better take some 12 step program for that. Jesus doesn’t allow ignorant morons into Heaven.
He’s on LOTS of medication, has been as long as I’ve known him (getting on 30 years now), I think the technical term for what happens with his chemistry is “drift”. His cocktail always gradually loses effectiveness. Things got better for him when he got a good woman, but it’s still rough. He’ll do the 20 hours of sleeping thing, the days without food thing. He’s tried to kill himself a few times, though not since the woman. But it’ll happen again, and one of these days he’ll succeed. It’s an inevitable thing you face with depressed loved ones, teaches you to value the time you have with them.
Many bipolar’s end up dealing with their condition through drugs and/or alcohol.
I have a friend who lost his nephew to bipolar.
Super smart kid but, at 25 whatever the voices were, he could no longer listen to them.
And he had tried various therapies and drug regimens.
He’s gone now. A good boy, who never hurt a soul, never took advantage of anyone.
Just...the end.
Like my friend above, they both killed the voices.
Nice job on compassion there. I bet Christ is proud of you.
I think we are starting to get glimpses of facets of the real Robin Williams. Borax Queen posted that her mom waited on him in San Fran and said he was always incredibly sweet to people. I read other accounts yesterday from various sources stating the same.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3191673/posts?page=303#303
Even people we know face to face and maybe see everyday at work or school, we only see a certain part of them. No one can ever know ALL/100% of anyone. I guess only God has that privilege. People are terribly complex. The mind, the heart, the soul, emotions, depression.
I don’t know Robin Williams. He certainly wasn’t perfect just as the rest of us are not. He had demons like a lot of us do. I’m really sorry for him to have been in pain and to have taken his life. I understand that level of darkness and hopelessness. I hope maybe some good can come from this for people.
Wait until Hillary gets elected. Maybe then, you will get some understanding.
Courtesy ping out of respect, I mentioned your post in #55.
Not everyone who seeks help gets what is right. Sometimes the wrong dose or wrong script is given, which happens because brain chemistries can differ between depressions and illnesses. Sometimes therapy can trigger. They say 95% of mental illnesses are treatable, many curable, but for that 5% where no God, drug or therapy can help them as their minds chemistry has twisted their thoughts. One can hope clarity is found that they are committed or heavily watched.
My prayers are with you. May God bless your efforts. My 22 year old was much like your 11 year old. And we prayed and trusted God as you are doing. Our daughter is still struggling with issues, but we love her and are proud of all she’s overcome.
I pray for your daughters success.
I get depressed when reading threads about depression...
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