RIP Robin Williams

I made it myself. You can take it and use it if you want to.

     I liked Robin Williams' acting. I thought he was funny. The movies left me rolling in laughter and hiccups [except for Good Will Hunting which was a more serious movie which I enjoyed for other reasons]. Who could forget Mrs. Doubtfire? Or Jack? Or The Bird Cage? Or Happy Feet?

     I didn't find out until the news broke of his suicide by hanging about his past addiction history or the clinical depression. Those things would not have changed my opinion of him as an actor. [I've never met him and I guess I won't meet him now].

     Robin Williams was not the first suicide of a recovering addict that I've known about. I lost a close friend to suicide [she jumped off of a bridge into traffic] some years ago. She did it clean but she was still dead. Two others also suicided that year-- they got drunk before pulling the trigger-- one of those was a severe diabetic who ensured his demise by also taking a bunch of diabetes meds all at once.

     I do not consider my buddies who suicided as being failures. I consider that the system and specifically the mental health treatment industry failed them miserably. This is why I support research and best practices. We need more research into how to provide the best truly individualized treatment for those of us who have addictions and / or mental health problems. We need more effective medications without the troubling side effects. 

     If you are a male teen, would you want to take an anti-psychotic that guarantees that you cannot get it up? If you are a native of India who is told that you "need" E.C.T., would you want it? Especially knowing that because of the shortage of muscle relaxants in your country, you are at high risk of breaking bones and teeth? If you are used to keeping your own counsel, would you be willing to be shuttled off to some group home because some professional decided that your living situation was "unstable?" As an older adult, would you want to sit through a day of a day treatment program where the professionals offer you the latest pop psychology? If you are a lesbian, would you want to sit through a filming and discussion of men and women being from different planets? What makes you think that we want to have those experiences if you don't want to have them?

     When the list of "acceptable" side effects for psych drugs are longer than the list of "acceptable" side effects for all other meds, there is a problem. When an atheist is forced to sit through yet another discussion of peoples' Higher Powers, that sort of treatment does not help. When adults are informed in a day treatment program that they will be expelled from that program for a couple of days because they cursed, something is wrong.

     No one wants to be talked down to. No one enjoys doing something they are forced to do that has no meaning for them. No one wants other people to make decisions for them.

     I can't help but wonder what Robin Williams' experiences were with psych drugs and professionals who claimed to have his best interest at heart.

radical sapphoq says: If you are thinking about killing yourself or about hurting yourself, tell someone. Get some help. If you find yourself stuck in the mental hell system or the addictions treatment industry, go to the National Empowerment Center's website at http://www.power2u.org/ and learn about self-empowerment. That information may not make you a more compliant patient. It may help you to become a more informed consumer. 
     Please stay alive. I've lost enough people to suicide. Thank you.