There is often a notion banded around that suicide is in some way ‘weak’ or that is ‘the coward’s way out’ and this often happens during the aftermath of a celebrity taking their own life. The latest case of this is the tragic death of Robin Williams, who hung himself at his California home at the age of 63, after having suffered for many years with depression, drug and alcohol problems.
The sentiment that suicide is cowardly is something which I simply can not agree with. Suicide is very often the final act of someone who has suffered for a very long period of time with some kind of mental illness, and I think that is due to a lack of understanding about illnesses such as depression and other anxiety disorders which leads people to form such a skewed perception of the nature of suicide, and about those who take this final, very drastic step.
Taking your own life is never an easy way out. Imagine being so completely consumed and overpowered by innumerable mental traumas that it leads you to the conclusion that the only way to solve your problems is to never see another day. To feel so hopeless and lost that you simply can not find hope or solace in anything or anyone is almost beyond my comprehension, it must feel like being sucked into the darkest realms of existence. I have felt particularly sad on several occasions in the past, as though nothing interests me anymore and everything is a pointless exercise, but these feelings have always passed very quickly and can come absolutely nowhere near to being described as depression or any other mental illness. I believe that it is the misconception that depression is just ‘feeling sad’ which is most damaging when forming opinions about those who suffer with this awful illness, and those who take their lives as a result of it.
Mental illness is especially tragic because it shows no visible signs and can not be treated in the same way in which a physical injury would be. People will often say things along the lines of ‘cheer up, nothing’s that bad’ or ‘there are people who are much worse off than you are. Some people don’t get to have the choice between life and death.’ Whilst I do understand that people who have had a relative die of a terminal illness, or themselves are suffering with a terminal illness may think that it is ‘selfish’ for someone to kill themselves, I can not agree in any way with sending people on some sort of guilt trip for feeling suicidal, as a result of a condition that they can do nothing about. My Nan died of cancer not so long ago and it was terrible to see her go through it in those last months, but it still doesn’t change my perception. Any illness can bring about death, whether or not it manifests itself physically or psychologically, and people’s problems should always be approached with understanding, sympathy and compassion, not condemnation or ignorance.
Of course it is not only depression which can lead to suicide, which I have already alluded to, as there are many other extremely damaging mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis, to name but a few. I really do feel that if people were better educated at a young age about these disorders it would instil a much better understanding throughout society and that it would also remove a lot of the stigma and shame which so often shrouds these issues in a terrible veil of confusion and judgement. I’m a firm believer in trying to find out the root causes of issues before I form an opinion on them, and I really do try not to judge anyone. I know nothing is ever completely black or white and that there are far too many mysteries and subtle differences when investigating peoples’ states of mind, and because of this people should never be condemned or belittled.
I think the closest I've ever come to getting a picture of the mind of someone who is suffering with a mental illness is through reading Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Bell Jar.’ To all intents and purposes the novel is only a slightly fictionalised account of Sylvia Plath’s own battle with clinical depression, her previous suicide attempts and her admission to a psychiatric hospital when she was in her teens. This novel is made even more poignant by the fact that she did eventually take her own life at the age of 30, very shortly after it was published.
For some reason suicide has always fascinated me, in particular the suicides of people who have fame, money and adoration and are seemingly doing what they want love for a living, as in the case of Robin Williams. These tragedies serve as a telling and obvious sign that no matter what external ‘riches’ a person seemingly possesses it will never be enough to keep the demons away in a persons’ mind.
I confess that I am not a huge fan of Robin Williams’ work, due to having only seen a handful of his films and hardly any of his stand up. Even so I recognise that he was an incredibly funny and naturally gifted comedian who brought a smile to many faces, and that his performances in films such as ‘Good Will Hunting’ were extremely moving. My favourite line of his comes from ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’ where, whilst on the radio, he says ‘It’s O Six Hundred, what’s the O stand for? Oh my god it’s early.’ It was indeed far too early for this brilliant comic genius to leave us. I hope he can find the peace in death that he was never able to find in life.
