New Delhi: What must have Robin Williams be thinking while taking his life? In a rather graphic report released by Marin County assistant deputy chief coroner, the authorities have said that Williams was found hanging by the roof of his room, by his own belt.
With more gruesome details coming in about the legendary actor's suicide, the already tragic story is taking a horrifying turn. It is hard to imagine the jovial actor -- be it as the inspiring teacher John Keating in 'Dead Poets Society', or as the innocent man-child Alan Parrish in 'Jumanji' -- as a victim of the silent killer, depression.
A psychiatric disorder often associated with abusive drug use, depression is often hard to diagnose because the person suffering from it usually learns to hide it within himself, often masking it as well. Williams was also reported to have had bipolar disorder, which seriously affects the mood, with people swinging between phases of extreme happiness and creativity to severe, crushing depression.
Artists and audiences all over the world are lamenting the loss to the film industry. Which is why we were surprised to read a comment made by actor Kamal Haasan regarding the death of Williams. In a statement released by IANS, Haasan said, "If the alleged story about his (Williams') suicide is true then I dislike him for ending his life before his due date of expiry. That's a cop-out that I don't expect of an artist of his calibre. Same applies to my Indian idol Guru Dutt."
Haasan, an actor and filmmaker of great calibre himself, had portrayed a similar role as Williams in the Bollywood 'adaptation' of the '80s hit 'Mrs Doubtfire' titled 'Chachi 420'.
But what prompted him to condemn Williams' desperate act? Does Haasan know the vicious nature of depression? Is there a need for a dialogue, a deeper understanding of the problem?
A study in the British Journal of Psychiatry done earlier this year, had compared comedians to other creative individuals in terms of showing psychotic characteristics related to both schizophrenia and manic depression. In a startling discovery, the results showed that comedians scored significantly higher than other performers in psychotic traits, listed under their defined measuring unit 'O-Life' (Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences).
"Comedians scored significantly above O-LIFE norms on all four scales. Actors also differed from the norms but on only three of the scales. Most striking was the comedians' high score on both introverted anhedonia and extraverted impulsiveness," concluded the study.
While the Indian society tends to treat psychiatric disorders as a matter of humiliating secrecy, some positive steps are being taken regarding it. The Home Ministry is in the process of effacing Section 309 of Indian Penal Code, under which anyone attempting to commit suicide is punishable with a jail term of upto one year and fine. The discussions come at an opportune time, because the repealing of the anachronistic law can save many lives and relieve the distress from the people suffering from it.
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