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Yes, I read other articles that mentioned his terrible disease. He wasn't aware of it at the time I don't think, yet he must have been aware there was something terribly wrong with him. All of his mental issues are explained by the symptoms of the disease. For someone whose brilliance was defined by his sharp mental acuity and improvisational skills, it must have felt utterly helpless.
I haven't read the many pages of replies but it could be the other way around. People with depression issues may (sometimes inconsistently) drive themselves ten times harder simply because for whatever reason, they see themselves as unworthy. But unfortunately the success does not take away that underlying feeling of unworthiness. It is just never enough.
Also, in Williams' case, I read that he may have had some brain degeneration due to his long history of drug abuse. Even a healthy brain has a huge problem fighting off chronic depression.
I see it as: even going full speed ahead in his main comedy and acting years he was just barely able to feel good enough, and even then he probably had periods where that failed. Now that he was getting older, fear of becoming irrelevant were added to the mix. I think at that point he just gave up fighting, did not want people to see him become a trail old man and just did the deed.
Yes, I read other articles that mentioned his terrible disease. He wasn't aware of it at the time I don't think, yet he must have been aware there was something terribly wrong with him. All of his mental issues are explained by the symptoms of the disease. For someone whose brilliance was defined by his sharp mental acuity and improvisational skills, it must have felt utterly helpless.
I can see this as the tipping point or last straw...but wasn't he depressed and anxious off and on his entire adult life? Actually, in that article he describes himself as lonely from childhood.
Not everyone diagnosed with Parkinson's commits suicide. It amps depression, though, for both physical and quality of life reasons.
I cannot say why, other than he was in a place most cannot understand. I wish he didn't do it, I am puzzled too. He had everything most people dream about, but with depression, I suppose that does not matter.
He had been diagnosed with “ Parkinson’s disease after battling a multitude of symptoms, including paranoia, delusions, insomnia, tremors, and memory problems” and facing dementia. He knew what was ahead for him sadly.
I don't think it is successful people necessarily, although creative people do seem to struggle with it and there are some very successful creative types out there.
I can see this as the tipping point or last straw...but wasn't he depressed and anxious off and on his entire adult life? Actually, in that article he describes himself as lonely from childhood.
Not everyone diagnosed with Parkinson's commits suicide. It amps depression, though, for both physical and quality of life reasons.
Robin had something called Lewy Body dementia (second most common after Alzheimer's) but that was not known until after he died. In fact if I recall correctly, the only definitive diagnosis for such dementia is only after examination of the brain tissue after death even if the symptoms indicate dementia/Alzheimer's while still alive.
The diagnosis was Parkinson's when his symptoms got worse but no treatments helped him because like I said it was Lewy Body dementia. Several doctors who reviewed his records after death said it was the worst case they'd ever seen.
The year before his death as his symptoms got worse, he knew something was terribly wrong with him and nothing was helping. It's not hard to understand why he chose to take his life at that point.
The main narrative immediately after his death was that it was all about depression and the struggles with mental illness, and in some ways it still is. Yet the main problem was that Robin had a terrible disease that was destroying his brain, and no one including the doctors knew that at the time. Yet it was this very disease that was causing him such turmoil in his life, terrible physical symptoms including loss of memory, physical pain, etc., and he desperately wanted to fix it but he couldn't. So he chose to end the suffering.
Robin had something called Lewy Body dementia (second most common after Alzheimer's) but that was not known until after he died. In fact if I recall correctly, the only definitive diagnosis for such dementia is only after examination of the brain tissue after death even if the symptoms indicate dementia/Alzheimer's while still alive.
The diagnosis was Parkinson's when his symptoms got worse but no treatments helped him because like I said it was Lewy Body dementia. Several doctors who reviewed his records after death said it was the worst case they'd ever seen.
The year before his death as his symptoms got worse, he knew something was terribly wrong with him and nothing was helping. It's not hard to understand why he chose to take his life at that point.
The main narrative immediately after his death was that it was all about depression and the struggles with mental illness, and in some ways it still is. Yet the main problem was that Robin had a terrible disease that was destroying his brain, and no one including the doctors knew that at the time. Yet it was this very disease that was causing him such turmoil in his life, terrible physical symptoms including loss of memory, physical pain, etc., and he desperately wanted to fix it but he couldn't. So he chose to end the suffering.
Thank you. I thought it was pretty well established that Williams had Lewy body dementia, which is a terrible disease, but I guess some people missed it the first time it made the rounds of the media after his suicide. Billy Crystal apparently said in an interview about Williams, "Think of it this way, the speed at which the comedy came (to him) is the speed at which the terrors came. … I can’t imagine living like that.”
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