“You’re only given a little spark of madness, you mustn’t lost it.”
The news of Robin Williams’ death has hit me harder than any other celebrity death ever, I think. I’ve never been so devastated to hear about the death of someone I never met. It’s like the entire world has collectively lost their favourite uncle.
To hear that he had been struggling with severe depression and the cause of death is a possible suicide is heartbreaking. To know that someone so beloved struggled so much, and so quietly is especially harrowing, to me.
In the words of YouTuber Jack Howard: “The name is immortal, the man was not.”
Hearing this news has hit home quite hard for me. I’ve been struggling with depression myself over the course of this last year and the end of 2013. This week (and oddly, yesterday in particular) have been especially low days. And though I’m not suicidal (far from it) I have been in the past. Knowing that someone else, ANYONE else is going through such horrific feelings is very distressing to me, as I’m sure it is to everyone reading this.
I was thinking last night about all the other people who could have died last night, who would have been suffering with the same problems, dealing with the same conditions. That made me very sad, to think of all these people, suffering so quietly, and not being remembered.
If anything comes from this, I hope that it is an increased awareness and understanding of mental illness. Because that’s what depression is; it is an illness. It is not something that can be switched off, or that the sufferer can ‘snap out of’. It is not attention seeking, it is not just having a sad moment. It is a dark, difficult and often dangerous state of mind that requires understanding and treatment, not stigma and prejudice.
If anyone reading this is struggling, I truly hope that you feel better soon. Here are a few places you can go for help, if you or someone else you know needs it:
Samaritans Suicide Hotline (UK) : 08457 90 90 90
International Suicide Hotlines
Dealing With Depression
Robin, thank you for enriching so many peoples’ childhoods and for making so many people laugh, and thank you for teaching so many kids how to fly. Bangarang.
“I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.”
– Robin Williams, 1951 – 2014.
Thoughts, musings, and ramblings... 