Robin Williams RIP: Coping Mechanism?

Ethicsrn4life · Aug 13, 2014

Beautiful.....just lovely

joanna73, BSN, RN · Aug 14, 2014

I've read that Robin was bipolar. I'm not positive, although it would explain the behaviour.

Bipolar disorder results in extreme highs and lows. Suicidal tendencies are common. Unfortunately, sometimes people succeed. Very sad to hear about Robin. I grew up watching him on TV before he ventured into film. He was extremely talented.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Aug 14, 2014

He talked about his bi-polar disorder on a talk show, Oprah maybe. So sad to lose such a talented person.

Ethicsrn4life · Aug 14, 2014

Kelrn, you are right on. Even in the world of psych professionals there is this prejudice (prejudge) if a colleague is experiencing. MH issues, unfortunately i have seen it my whole career. It saddens me that those of us who are suppose to have the most understanding about MH issues will judge our colleagues. So how effective can you really be as a practioner if you have this belief system that there is something wrong with a person who has a psych disorder. Regardless of your acknowledgement that you the practitioner believe this pts pick up on disingenuousness or nonaunthenic belief systems. They know if you see them as an alien because they will often verbalize this to someone they feel is genuine, who sees their humaness.

Some time ago to practice in psychiatry in any professional role part of your training was being in therapy to deal with your own issues. We not only need to go back to that, but just on a human level be able to look inside and understand the only difference beteen someone suffering and those who are not...is the fact that those who are not do not hve a diagnosis from the DMSIV-TR because we are still coping and those suffering some have a diagnosis and their coping skills are no longer working, others don't have a dx,coping skills are not working and they are afraid of the stigma of the psych world. So i can't hold the general public in contempt of how we treat people with MH issues til i hold my own group accountable.

We need a systemic change in consciousness about how we see deal and treat those among us struggling with psych disorders. We would think it cruel and inhumane if someone suffering from cancer, heart disease, asthma or any physical disorder like we treat those with MH disorders. We would.not tolerate gossip or nonsupport. Also we would understand that long-term treatment/management/ support is normal.

Let us stand up and stand out for MH, just can not stand by watching, ignoring people suffering. Even if they have been open about their condition does not mean they are open about their sick days. We can be more vigilant about their care,more supportive about destigmatizing psych disorders.and help those that are afraid or who are unable to seek viable help. If one thing doesn't work there are other things that can be tried. If a person with diabetes is unable to get their blood sugars under control we keep trying things, as well as supporting them til something works.....WE DON'T GIVE UP,and i would like to see that same committment given to people suffering with MH issues.

Thank you Kelrn your comments were thought provoking,truth telling,authentic. I hope this launches us into solutions ,and ongoing dialogue,.

LadysSolo · Aug 14, 2014

So many say that suicide is selfish. It is not. It is about feeling that the world is better off without you, and it is a way of ending the pain of self-hate. I am cannot believe how much Mr. Williams' death has affected me.

Ethicsrn4life · Aug 14, 2014

Thank you Wishiknew for sharing your struggles. I too stuggle from major dpression/PTSD , sometimes it is just difficult to be upright. I dont find much support among peers,family etc. meds have not been effective. For 40yrs i have made people laugh and have a great time. Impressions and storytelling was my gig. Everyone wanted to hangout , be friends. Even teachers,professors wanted to be friends until i ran out of the things that made people laugh. When my insides started making its way on the outside people left. 30yr reltionships fell apart and it was my fear all along, and when it came true i was utterly devastated and lost,sad, and confused. I had made a terrible mistake in revealing my real self, my depressed side. My peers were mostly nurses, and some were psych nurses....utter devastation. On one ccount a friend was very honest and said, "I can't handle your depression i am sorry, but we can't be friends anymore...shocked and dismayed. She had a brother who suffered from a psych disorder that she could not talk about. My revealing my depression triggered her fears, helplessness. Just in knowing that i was being treated was too much. Others were not so honest and each of these relationships were safe and long-term. It was at the advisement of my therapist to share and it was the worst decision i ever made. I still have 3 very good friends but i am vry careful with them. They know i am in therapy,but when i am not doing well i isolate and when better i come out with jokes about being MIA. If they need me in emergent situations and i am not doing well i can shift very easily into friend/nurse mode. It has been a very lonely few years, but i do have a very supportive therapist. I don't do characters any longer, stories are quite limited because i am really trying to do real life. But i knew when the laughter stopped i would be in trouble. But i am here.

BeOne77 · Aug 14, 2014

I also think it could have had to do with a high IQ (not that I know his IQ, I'm just guessing he was VERY intelligent.) They say brilliance isn't far from madness... his mind probably moved at about 1,000 miles a minute. That was pretty obvious in his quick wit. He most likely over analyzed everything in the world around him.
An example of this that comes to mind is Mozart. He was extremely suicidal. Many of the most famous composers and writers were and their IQ's were off the charts.
Just another theory!

Yes and we also have to remember that before the 1800's or so, there were rarely any diagnoses of Mental Illness, the term bipolar was very rare in the early 1900's and it wasn't until recently that there was an explosion of bipolar diagnoses which I find interesting being that there are more than 40,000 psychiatrists in the world all promoting various voted on diagnoses in the DSM in which there has never been credible evidence that the chemical imbalance theory is valid. And now being on the internet for more than a few hours a day is now a psychological impairment requiring medication as well as selfies. These theories of chemical imbalances have been perpetuated by these doctors as a logical answer to depression and the various behaviors people have but it is theorized that neurotransmitters are the cause of this which is almost impossible to delineate. High serotonin is known to be an indicator for carcinoid tumors. Not to mention that several psychiatrists have some patients on 4 to 5 different antidepressants at one time looking for the "magic" combination. These are theories which have in turn tried to become fact as a way to supplement the psychiatrists income in order to prescribe psychotropics to the public in order to satisfy the multibillion dollar profiting of the pharmaceutical industry who in turn claims to be making us better. Really it was the drug Milltown that started all of this in the 50's with its anxiolytic drug that was the first one to be marketed. Prior to that there was not as much outpouring of diagnoses of mental illness...Now its rampant....Is this because of the overabundance of psychiatrists? Or the TV, newspaper marketing being done from the pharm industry?

These days there are mental health kiosks in the grocery store asking personal questions and screening individuals based on ten questions. Our kids are getting screened at school, women being questioned in ob gyn offices, primaries giving out and prescribing all of this...Now there are at least 100 or even more of these drugs. And too many of them are being restructured as new drugs and the names of the drugs are being changed *I.e -ambien and intermezza) So I find this interesting that people are being medicated with benzos for not sleeping well and thus becoming physiologically addicted and the time to withdraw from a benzo can take years and then recovery from this even longer. And I also find it interesting that medicine has changed its focus from disease prevention to disease management in the US...I also think that depression and other related "illnesses" are being overmedicated and treated like disease when emotions like grief and periods of depression are being manipulated and concocted as medical illnesses when they are based on feelings...

Now, if you grieve your husband who just died for more than 2 weeks you have major depression and need to be medicated...As far as I know grief is a normal process to go through according to Kubler-Ross...And anxiety is pretty much a normal emotion too, so I am not sure how this got to be as big as it is and why it is being claimed as being scientific. There is big money to be made if you are a psychiatrist period. But is it gratifying if you know you are not curing but manipulating neurochemistry for emotions. And psychiatry is clever calling these disorders because they cannot claim they are illnesses or diseases because they are not. I think this branch of medicine should take a closer look at itself because of the physical problems that can occur as a result of taking these medications over a period of time.

And further for the people who have been unlucky enough to get a mental health diagnosis are then further stigmatized in the workplace, in their communities, shunned by others, put onto disability due to the physical side effects and impact on career and lose friends and family members in the process. These mental health labels affect the person diagnosed for the rest of their lives and are told they are hopeless and need medication for the long term with no hope of recovery. They are told they must "manage" their "illness" and must take highly potent and powerful drugs for the rest of their lives which eventually produces drug induced dementia as well as kidney and liver disease....I remember talking to someone who has been taking many of these drugs and we both felt is was ironic that as high school students in chemistry class we were told never to mix chemicals together because the outcome was dangerous and toxic...I wonder if psychiatrists took this class as well...The chemicals and molecules used to make these drugs are very interesting indeed and no one has any knowledge of the long term effects of using these or what they are actually doing or accomplishing but there are many many reports of people suffering on the drugs with no real improvement and even more clinical trials where placebos were used and the outcomes were better on placebo than the actual drug....

Enough said.

BeachsideRN, ASN · Aug 14, 2014

"High serotonin is known to be an indicator for carcinoid tumors."

.... Not sure where you were going with that statement. Serotonin levels can be elevated in carcinoid tumors and are elevated during a carcinoid crisis. But there are other biomarkers (CgA, PPP, pancreastatin,NkA,etc) that must be present to indicate NET/CS.

I do believe the US population is over medicated, in general. And that the true definitions of mental disorders are grossly exaggerated. However I also believe there are some people that benefit from pharma treatment of true mental disorder. In fact, a side effect of antidepressants is suicide due to the fact that the person is getting back in balance and energy levels are the first to rebound. Which is why patients on these meds should be monitored closely.

BeOne77 · Aug 14, 2014

Just In...............

Video: Marlon Wayans: Antidepressants may have caused Robin Williams’ suicide | INTERNATIONAL COALITION FOR DRUG AWARENESS

BeOne77 · Aug 14, 2014

"High serotonin is known to be an indicator for carcinoid tumors."
.... Not sure where you were going with that statement. Serotonin levels can be elevated in carcinoid tumors and are elevated during a carcinoid crisis. But there are other biomarkers (CgA, PPP, pancreastatin,NkA,etc) that must be present to indicate NET/CS.
I do believe the US population is over medicated, in general. And that the true definitions of mental disorders are grossly exaggerated. However I also believe there are some people that benefit from pharma treatment of true mental disorder. In fact, a side effect of antidepressants is suicide due to the fact that the person is getting back in balance and energy levels are the first to rebound. Which is why patients on these meds should be monitored closely.

In balance from what? Getting back into balance....No this is not vertigo or low blood sugar or even orthostatic htn....Its as if to say someone who is depressed is unbalanced? No these drugs do not balance any chemicals in the brain...If anything they cause imbalances where there were none before. They also mess with the GABA system. Too many people who experience "depression" for the first time and start on ADs report worsening of depression, sometimes nightmares, and yes it can cause increased energy because it is causing an imbalance not rebalancing...They are inhibiting neurons and synapses and causing multiple other issues such as dizziness, increased appetite, dry mouth, anxiety, low blood pressure, etc. etc.. And no they do not increase serotonin as they market them for everyone to believe....The side effects are numerous..why do you think their energy levels are rebounding here? And if they were to increase serotonin as claimed why do you think it takes 4-8 weeks to reach a steady blood level?? It does not take 6 weeks to increase serotonin. There are foods that do this and exercise. No these drugs are known to "change" brain neurochemistry, not improve it...When you start manipulating brain chemicals and people's thoughts and thinking...Yes you are bound to have problems...and no, patients are not being monitored because their energy levels are increasing, it is because they are more at a risk of suicide having the drug in them and having more "energy" to finally carry it out....to make a detailed plan...What is your definition of a "true" mental disorder? Please explain your rationale...

Raewynv · Aug 14, 2014

Whatever the reason why Robin Williams did what he did, the family must be in agony. This I would know as my brother committed suicide back in 1998 in the same fashion. Here in New Zealand suicide is not talked about and the impact on the surviving family members goes unnoticed. I think that people commit suicide for many reasons and many that we do not think about. We should not just think and talk of what has happened but also look at who and how it impacts on those around the person. When I first heard about Robin Williams I was shocked but then I started thinking about the family and friends who are left behind to deal with this tragedy. Robin Williams was a great actor who loved to make people laugh. He will be greatly missed .

BeOne77 · Aug 14, 2014

BeOne77, I feel the emotion behind your post and offer you hugs, first and foremost.
A standard nursing education will include psychiatric nursing, including these medications - taking them and stopping them, and the dangers of both.
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Umm Yes a "standard" nursing education does include psychiatric nursing Yes and No standard nursing education nor standard medical education goes into the "stopping" of Psychiatric medication properly...All too often Psychiatrists will tell you Oh, that's not working or you don't want to take that? Or its causing too many unwanted side effects? Ok well this is what you should do. EX:..if you are on 15mg of Abilify, you should cut down to 10mg the first week, then go down to 5mg, then 2.5 the last week, then alternate 2.5 every other day until you are off....Does anyone realize the problem with this advice?
Well Let me tell you if the brain is given an antipsychotic, and you take it away in this manner at this rate, the brain function of what it was regulating when on the drug does not give it time to restabilize thus resulting in shakes, tremors, terror, nausea, wrenching pain, anxiety, insomnia, fibromyalgia, psychosis, heart palps, metabolic issues, blurry vision, etc..cortisol levels are influenced, the CNS is destabilized, adrenals are stressed, the gut is damaged, etc. Often more times than not the patient returns to the doctor and asks the doctor what is happening with me? Oh and did I say hallucinations, suicidal ideation, confusion, depersonalization and derealization,.
..So you return and the doc says Oh your original condition must be returning...let's try something else...And here you go on and on and on until you finally pick up a book by Peter Breggin MD called "Your Drug may be your problem" and the light switch gets turned on....Geesh this explains a lot...So NO Nursing education is indeed basic when it comes to "stopping" medication and too often because of the lack of knowledge and preparation in this area too many people are suffering and feel it is necessary to go back on the drug and live a drugged existence with not much emotional variance. But Yes there is a way to get off safely...it is called Tapering...You taper 10% or less even to 5% or even less than that according to what your body can handle...It is done not in weeks but months or years...For people who have been on these drugs 10, 20, 30 years you cannot expect someone for example if they want to become pregnant to jump off this within a week or even a month...
Relapse is bound to happen because of the changes in neural pathways that have been changed as a result of taking the drug.....Everyone knows that when you stop alcohol or caffeine there are w/d symptoms and these are not as extreme or intense as the powerful substances as the concocted complex chemical molecular structure of the psychotropics...And no the pharmaceutical companies do not have discontinuation schedules for these drugs...They haven't studied it..They test on monkeys, then test subjects and No I am not frustrated by the assumptions and thoughts shared here...I am only speaking about a subject that only the people who have withdrawn by their doctors advice who are supposed to be educated in this subject but are not because they are not getting it in the medical education and certainly not from the pharm industry..I am only sharing a subject dear to me because I have gone through it and know now there is little information besides Prof. Heather Ashton's Manual on benzowithdrawal as a guide to the mental mess and pain and suffering these drugs are actually causing.
..I am trying to bring awareness to a subject that is now becoming more widespread than most nurses realize and there is more and more information coming out regarding this subject where medical science has not breached the subject. All too often doctors will do test after test to try and determine what is causing all of these symptoms and can't find anything wrong....and thus reblame the patient for their medical condition because they themselves can't figure it out....
There really is no reason to be giving stimulants to ADHD children or antipsychotics to 2-4 year olds..because a parent can't control a child or the child is having problems at school. That's why there is counseling and discipline...
And Yes there is truth when the bottle says do not discontinue without seeking medical advice, do not stop abruptly, if you miss a dose do not double up on the dose. If you miss this dose, then take the next dose at the next scheduled time....
And doctors will try and convince you that your "illness" has returned or you are relapsing when they are clueless that the drug they have given you is the source of the problem. The recommended result? Add more of the drug or switch to something else and risk w/d..not the correction and certainly not a cure or a healing for depression or even psychosis....Many of these drugs such as Klonipin or Ativan are designed for short term use of up to two weeks at most....Some people have been on doses of up to 12mg of Ativan or 60mg of Valium for 20-30 years....There are people on 1200mg of Seroquel, 11mg of Risperadol, 90mg of Remeron....These are very outrageous doses....and these all have sedating and tranquilizing effects...I am not sure why anyone would want to be sedated in these states for 20-30 years but this is what happens to the "mentally ill" and they die on average 25 years earlier than the average due to physical problems and debilitation caused by the drugs....Just trying to get awareness out there that this is not ok and that it causes more pain and suffering physically as well as financially, emotionally and to the people around them as to the lack of life within them...