Robin Williams Is Dead or How Being Funny Is Not the Same as Being Happy

Just days ago, actor and comedian Robin Williams was found dead in his home in California, US. Hours later, the news broke that the actor, who had been battling depression for quite a while prior to his death, had committed suicide. Not at all surprisingly, many found it difficult to wrap their head around the idea that somebody as hilarious as Robin Williams could ever suffer from depression. How so funny a person could not be happy, they must have asked themselves. These folks were left terribly confused by the actor’s suicide because folks tend to forget that making other people laugh is not the same as being so perfectly at ease with the world that you cannot help but let out a few giggles every ten minutes or so.   In fact, there is evidence that, as surprising as this may sound, comedians are more vulnerable to this disorder than regular folks are. By the looks of it, it’s the way in which their brain is wired that makes them more prone to depression.  First Off, Here’s What Depression Is All About  Unless you’ve been diagnosed with depression yourself – or somebody very close to you was found to suffer from this disorder – you can’t fully grasp how serious this condition is. Mind you, I myself cannot claim to know all about this disorder.  Still, here is what I do know: it’s not something you can snap out of, and this makes it terrifying. It’s your brain that’s hurting and, despite the fact that many think the brain to be the only organ whose behavior can be controlled, this isn’t true when it comes to depression.  Depression affects your thoughts, your behavior, your feelings, and your general state of wellbeing, and, once again, it’s not something you can will yourself out of. Your entire life is turned topsy-turvy, sleeping and eating habits included, and these changes are very much beyond your control.  Are Comedians More Vulnerable to Depression than Regular Folks?    According to a recent paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry, comedians are bound to have psychotic personality traits. Ironically enough, it appears that these psychotic personality traits are the reason they have an easy time making others laugh.  Otherwise put, evidence indicates that the personality traits that breed creativity in the case of most comedians are strikingly similar to those displayed by people diagnosed with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, specialists explain.  A tendency towards anti-social or impulsive behavior, coupled with an aversion to intimacy, counts itself among these traits. What’s more, it appears that manic thinking helps comedians put together ideas in order to form completely new and humorous ones.  Non-conformity, together with an introverted personality, has also been documented to plague comedians. Simply put, an unusual personality makes comedians way funnier than regular folks are. On the downside, it also makes them more likely to develop mental disorders such as depression.  It has even been suggested that, in the case of people who have such unusual personalities, comedy is no more and no less than a way to deal with the depressive side and hide it from the world. In other words, comedy may be a way of coping. Granted, this idea is not true of all comedians. It is, however, worth considering.  The Depression – Parkinson’s Disease Link Just days after Robin Williams’ suicide, researchers with the Northwestern University in the US announced that, despite being recognized as a common symptom of Parkinson’s disease, depression often goes untreated in folks diagnosed with this condition.  Having looked at the medical records of about 7,000 individuals, the researchers found that, of the patients found to display severe depressive symptoms, merely a third were prescribed medication for this disorder.  Of the remaining two thirds, just 10% were prescribed antidepressants or referred for counseling throughout the course of an entire year of observation. This happened despite the fact that depression is now acknowledged as a factor than can greatly influence one’s overall quality of life.  This piece of news concerns us because, as revealed by media reports, Robin Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease not too long before his passing. Granted, the comedian was being treated for depression, but this does not change the fact that this second condition most likely made things worse and had a say in his death.  Curtains Close  Here’s what I want you to remember from this editorial: that depression is not something one can voluntarily snap out of, that comedians have unique personality that can, under certain circumstances, make them more vulnerable to depression, and that Parkinson’s disease takes its toll on one’s mental wellbeing.  If you ask me, Robin Williams’ death was, if I might be so bold as to phrase it this way, the end result of a perfect storm of psychological factors that worked together to bring about the demise of this great actor and comedian.