Last night I was thinking about how maturity can change a perspective. When I was young, I had a very low self esteem. I won't get into all the whys, but I will say that I cared far too much what others thought about me. Well, I say I cared too much, but I suppose I didn't care enough to give in to their foolishness. And that made them only tease me more. I struggled with depression (not just because of the teasing). By the age of 15 I considered killing myself. I think the one thing that prevented me from doing that was my fear of going to hell. Back in those days any hellfire and brimstone preacher would be sure to tell you that you'd go to hell for that. And it scared me. I don't necessarily believe that is true today, though I am sure God wouldn't want anyone killing themselves. But mental illness and some forms of depression are not always something a person can control. They try putting you on medications and many times the thing that is supposed to help you only makes it worse. So what is the point of me saying all this? I just want people to understand that, whether Robin Williams was an addict or not (as some like to point out), it  doesn't mean he didn't have a real issue with depression. Perhaps he was medicated for it, but I'm not sure. I do know that sometimes depressed people attempt to alleviate symptoms with alcohol or drugs. That doesn't make his death any less a tragedy. I hate that he felt depressed enough to end his life. I hate that his family are left hurting. We will never know what was going on in his mind, or if his mind was affected by medications. What we do know is, a man who was loved by many has died.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/health/2014/08/12/suicide-risk-robin-williams/13939897/