re: Henry Rollins on Robin Williams suicide

"Mental disease is harder for the layperson to reconcile."

I could not agree. Even harder for many is to recognize that mental illness can be and often is a terminal illness. We still operate in society under a "mind/body" paradigm that probably does not exist.

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disagree

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No one knows the pain the man was going through. To expect him to be miserable for the rest of his life just so his kids could see him every now and then is simply unfair.


I have to wonder if there would be so much opposition to suicide if the bible didn't condemn it.
Remember folks, Jesus wants you to suffer till the very end--no shortcuts.

I agree to a point. His general sentiments about suicide being hard on those who love the person are accurate. It's a terrible idea and a terrible outcome. RW had plenty of access to help and had checked into treatment prior to his suicide.

However, not a single one of us can understand whatever he was going through at the time. It's a very subjective thing; that is, one's perception of how good or bad life is or may be. I have found that, with rare exceptions, most folks who make serious suicide attempts or actually succeed leave clues that their level of pain was more than they could bare (again, subjective).

I treated a nice guy who was seriously suicidal. He knew objectively that his life was "not so bad" but medicaton did not help him at all. It actually took a round of ECT (inpatient) before the meds started working. It took several months for him to not be suicial. It's tough to deal with and every case is different.

Too many Shawshank Redemption psychologists in this thread.

I disagree, KS. I'd bet that Rollins has never had a taste of severe, clinical depression; and the all-consuming effect on perception. Not that I have re the clinical version...but I have been to THE psychological bottom. Thanks to Jesus, I escaped the inescapable.

Williams likely did not ponder the totality of his impromptu action. He was swept away in a matter of minutes.

He was a good man; spread joy, laughter, solid values and retained humility and respect for all, as he gained power...to the brethren.

God rest his soul. I didn't agree with some of his politics; but I love and respect the man, and count him as a dear brother.

A man willing to kill himself is in no position to qualify reasoning with facts.

I just happen to believe a little different ( at times it can be a mental diseased brain ) as pertaining to most cases of depression, I think it's a spiritual attack.

Nevertheless, a person in such a dark state, clearly isn't thinking in the proper manner and thus Henry Rollins is FOS.

Rollins apologizes

I think he still believes what he said, but did not mean for it to hurt people.

And

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There's also a good chance that Henry Rollins doesn't know how depression works.

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is clearly wrong. The issue is that he has severe clinical depression and he works through it everyday. And part of how he gets through it is thinking about what it would do to his loved ones.

So I understand his anger. And honestly it's a message that needs to be out there. Suicide does not solve problems, it creates more for those left behind. That has been mostly glossed over in the (understandable) praise of Robin Williams life.

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I have to wonder if there would be so much opposition to suicide if the bible didn't condemn it.

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pretty sure the word suicide isn't in the bible