Icebear said:
I would, also, expect that Robin Williams was likely manic/depressive. The manic phase finding great expression in his bouncing off the wall stage personae. Frequently, this creates great complication in the treatment of the illness as many people value or use the manic phase to accomplish tremendous volumes that most would find unreasonable and want that energy to that end and then the crashes deepen even further.
Having a son with bipolar disorder combined with ADD, I see his daily struggles with managing simple tasks that others cannot understand why he doesn't just learn to manage. Take racking up $400 in overdraft protection fees. Why? Because he had been working weekdays during regular bank hours, would bring home his paycheck set it aside and then forget to deposit it and then forget that he forgot to deposit it. Do that for three paychecks and keep using your debit card for lots of small purchases and $400 in fees accumulate very quickly. He has bipolar 1 disorder, the less severe of the two, but nonetheless it has a profound impact on his day to day life. It took him 8 years to get his bachelor's degree and he is at a loss how to move forward, along with a healthy dose of lack of confidence and fear of failure because of the combined bipolar and ADD. When he is in his manic phase, though not as extreme as you see portrayed or hear about in the news, his mind nonetheless races, his sleep patterns are completely disrupted as in not sleeping, and he can't concentrate on anything for very long jumping from one thing to another. These are his times of greatest creativity. He has a keen sense of humor and while certainly no Robin Williams, is very funny in his own right. Then the depressive phase kicks in and he can barely function, sleeps all the time and can't wake up even with three alarms one of which rattles the windows. During these phases he lacks self confidence and can't make a decision on even simple things like what to eat - if he eats. Before he was diagnosed during college I assumed he was being a rebellious and moody teenager, making up every excuse in the book for his declining academics. I thought the tears and frustration were pure dramatics. The excuse that he didn't know why he wasn't doing or turning in homework didn't ring true to me. Little did I realize the hell he was going through. Until the day he said through his sobs that he just wasn't smart anymore. The absolute despair and misery in his voice convinced me there was something more going on than laziness or rebelliousness. Of course it took him three more years and nearly failing out of college for him to recognize for himself he had something wrong mentally and it was not a character flaw. Medication and therapy have helped tremendously, but the fact is this highly intelligent young man will struggle his whole life to do the simple things like get up each day, go to work and pay bills. I joke with my friends that he will be the 45 year old living in his parents house with their dead bodies rotting away. But this is dark humor with a sense that I know it is entirely possible. It is truly heartbreaking as a parent to see your child, at 26, truly incapable of living on his own, trapped in a body with a brain that doesn't allow him to function like "normal" people. And knowing there is absolutely nothing you can do to help him escape that world. Until you have been through a major depressive episode yourself (yes, I have been there and back a few times ) or watched a loved one suffer through it you cannot possibly understand how dark, lonely and painful it is. I never reached the point of really wanting to end it all, but I wasn't all that far from it. I can see how someone could reach the point where they cannot see any positives of continuing to live in a world of darkness and despair. Some commit suicide in a sense of revenge "I'll show them", but I think many do it out of a misguided sense that they will make the lives of those around them better by not being a burden. Depressed people do not make sound decisions. Unfortunately suicide is a decision that has long lasting ramifications and can't be reversed. Families are left behind with anger and guilt wondering why they couldn't have stopped it. That is the resulting tragedy that the severely depressed simply cannot comprehend during their final moments of pain and suffering.