Robin Williams was one of the most prolific actors and comedians of all time. Thanks to his large body of work, other people will always be able to laugh because he was exceptionally talented at making people do exactly that. Unfortunately, he also suffered with depression, something that most people didn’t know until after his death in 2014. In addition, he had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, something that only further increased his level of depression. Sadly, Williams took his own life by suffocation.
It is clear that this was an individual that many people throughout the general public looked up to. That fact was driven home even more clearly when experts began to notice that suicide rates went up sharply in the months following Williams’ own death. As a matter of fact, they found that during the four months immediately after the death of Robin Williams, suicide rates increased by roughly 10 percent. To put those numbers in perspective, that means that approximately 2,000 additional people died as a result of suicide.
While these additional deaths affected both men and women of all ages, experts looked more closely at the information and found that the area that was most hardly hit involved men ranging in age from 30 to 44 years old. While they are not yet certain why this was the particular group that was hit the hardest, it might have something to do with the fact that many of these same individuals might have been considered the biggest fans Williams. Therefore, they might have been the group most deeply affected when he died. There is also the possibility that individuals who were already considering suicide because of depression or some other type of circumstances might have made the decision to go ahead and carry their plans out because someone they greatly admired had also made the same choice.
Perhaps the scariest statistic was found when researchers discovered that a specific form of suicide, that by suffocation, went up a stark 32 percent during the five months after Williams’ death. This is the same form of suicide that was committed by Williams, leading many experts to make the conclusion that there is indeed a direct correlation between the two.
Unfortunately, no one will ever be able to say whether or not Williams’ death was actually an intentional suicide, as some have speculated that it was an accident. With that being said, all of this points to a rather troubling reality. People that look up to celebrities often have a tendency to emulate them, regardless of what those choices might be. Make no mistake about it, this article is not meant to describe suicide as something that should be swept under the rug, but instead to draw attention to the many individuals that are suffering on a daily basis. Sadly, some of those individuals finally come to a day where they feel like they simply cannot go on for one more second and the idea of ending their life becomes more appealing than the thought of dealing with whatever might be happening.
The single positive thing about this research is that it has brought more attention to the subject of suicide. Hopefully, this additional focus will help people find other options that will allow them to cope with the issues that exist in their lives as opposed to making a choice that does not allow them to change their mind later on.
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