RIP, famous person

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by limey

No, Jim, I think you're very wrong there. Poor people with depression expect to be depressed/are expected to be depressed/self-medicate with drink or drugs until they die of excess/get treatment of they're lucky but don't hit the headlines because they have to just get on with the struggle. I can think of several examples among my RL and online acquaintance.

Poor people are depressed as often as the rich; they just don't make the news. Bipolar disorder doesn't respect socioeconomic class. It runs in families and it's tightly connected with substance abuse ... the two run together. But it's no different than inherited type 2 diabetes or any other genetic predisposition.

People with major depression CANNOT just take a cold shower, walk around the block, do a good deed, and get over it. They can and will do all of the above - and Robin Williams is the quintessential example of a person who went far beyond that in carrying on, and in giving to others - but it doesn't touch the darkness that makes it impossible to go on. Read William Styron's Darkness Visible. His description of suicidal depression captures its essence. The online blog Hyperbole and a Half: Adventures in Depression and Depression Part Two are also instructive.