If you've ever been depressed you "understand" the thought of suicide.

[sybylla]

100. So you had a chance to speak with his doctors?

I didn't know that.

There is always plenty of survivor guilt to go around. So why not dump a little more on everyone.

Let's start with the fact that not all artist are tortured souls, though that is a common romanticized perception of artists. And not all depression is the same. Robin Williams was a fantastic actor, so making a diagnosis based on his pubic antics, persona, and rumors of his private life is really out of place. If you have a link to some comments he made or anything made by his own doctors or family, that would be helpful.

You see, I have a bit of personal experience with suicide.

My BIL shot himself 20 years ago. Rumors were rampant in the small community he lived and worked in. The newspapers got many things wrong and the family had to threaten to sue before a tiny correction was placed on page 12. So to think the media has it right on anything regarding Robin Williams that didn't come out of his own mouth seems to be misplaced faith.

In my BIL's case, within hours there were people who barely knew him saying, "He must have been depressed" or "There must have been warning signs the family missed" or 11 million other things that suggest those closest to him were responsible for this man's actions or for not preventing them. And suddenly everyone was a faux expert on suicide, on what my BIL went through before he shot himself, and on what the family went through afterward.

Truth is, no one knows what went on in Robin Williams' life but Robin Williams and possibly his closest family and remotely his closest friends. And truthfully, no one else has a right to know.

What I did learn from that episode is that the number one factor in preventing suicides is talking about it. Whether it's society at large or just your own interpersonal relationships, creating an atmosphere in which suicide is talked about (without guilt or fear of judgment), in which people who are having those thoughts know they have someone they can talk to, can make the biggest difference in preventing it.

No one medical cause is responsible for all suicides, some suicides have many factors, and, in fact, in a surprisingly large number of suicides (like with my BIL) there was never any form of depression.

To make assumptions about what Robin Williams was going through is improper and to suggest others are responsible for what he chose to do is like blaming the spouse for an alcoholic's alcoholism or for their own beating at the hands of an abuser. It's obvious from the response not only of all his friends (of which he had many judging by the news last night) but also of the entire world that your "as long as the jokes were funny" comment is woefully shitty.