Robin Williams’ suicide opens discussions

by Nellie Curtiss ….

The super moon of August 2014 held its breath when Denver’s 9News KUSA anchors interrupted. “Breaking news, Robin Williams was found dead at age 63. There is some indication he took his own life.” 

Not long ago CBS and ABC reported the unexpected death of Matthew Perry in his Jacuzzi from drowning. The world knew he had struggled with alcohol and drugs through his years on Friends. But anchors and fans alike still wonder did he revert to substance abuse this last time? What happened to Matthew Perry? Was it another planned suicide? The autopsy may give us answers.

I admit the news was hard to take. Like the 2014 tragedy when Williams took his own life,I wondered why? Remembering Williams on network tv, included excerpts movies and sitcom. As an English professor, I used Dead Poets Society (DPS) every semester as an opportunity to teach students to think about description, narration, and exemplification; then to analyze by using cause and effect, compare and contrast and definition.

Then again, depression was a character in Neil’s story.  From this underlying layer came important dialogs around depression and suicide.  I brought in mental health experts from the local community, and mental health agency.  We talked about what element of the story “caused” Neil to take his own life.  We discussed the personal inter-relationships that the film revealed; we looked for the markers of Neil’s choices and how he might have chosen differently.  We had honest explorations of students’ personal struggles and emotional hurdles.  No one left that class without knowing the local emergency numbers and the national hotline for suicide prevention which is now: 988. (SMS 988)

For over a decade mental/behavioral health organizations have campaigned to change the stigma long associated with addressing the many mental health issues and disorders of the brain and “heart.”

My own experience with depression and suicide ideation made me realize that we need to chat with our family and keep Facetime active with friends and maybe even X posts about our thoughts slanting downward.  Most of all, we need to look and listen with love. Yes, depression afflicted me throughout my public-school years and through young motherhood. I had some help from friends who listened to me despite my 2 am calls.

A few years back, the local Valley high schools were embracing the movement of suicide awareness with trainings in suicide prevention.  A decade earlier, I remember how class discussions in another rural community brought one middle aged student to talk to me after class. He was very depressed; he was in the throes of divorce and bankruptcy. Plus, he no longer had the contact with his children that he yearned for.  Having a dedicated counselor on campus was important especially in these crises. Still, this non-traditional student from rural North Dakota parked his aged pick-up on the tracks. His suicide brought home the need for more counselors available on campus.

Depression is not gender specific and it doesn’t pick on the upwardly mobile more than the unemployed; depression is a brain not working properly like lungs that do not breathe fully or like a broken leg that needs medical intervention. 

Some signs of depression are: withdrawing from usual activities, giving away possessions, sleeping more than usual, lack of energy and crying for seemingly no reason.  Even confusion and lack of concentration can be clues to depression. 

Robin Williams in his many roles gave his fans unrelenting humor to help us through our daily lives. In DPS, Mr. Keating offered his students motivation to thrive – like poetry, life, love, and a reminder to “live deliberately,” and to find out “What will your verse be?”

Call the hotline for help; call your friends.  Reach out and share your feelings and quandaries.  Take the challenge that Robin Williams as Mr. Keating shouted out to the class and find your voice (verse), open up your choices and find “life is worth living after all.”

— Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com