The Fayetteville Observer, N.C., Bill Kirby Jr. column

Aug. 15--Imagine, if you dare, those final moments when Robin Williams chose to hook a belt to a closet door, loop it around his neck and take his life.

"If you're that depressed, reach out to someone," the actor says in character from the 2009 film "World's Greatest Dad." "And remember, suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems."

Monday, we learned that Williams, the 63-year-old comedic genius and dramatic actor, had taken his life.

"Robin Williams apparently struggled with the weight of this serious illness most of his life," Diane Carolan-Stegman, a local psychologist, says about Williams, who reportedly was in a deep depression and suffered from anxiety. His wife revealed Thursday he was in the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

"He deserves our compassion and respect," Carolan-Stegman says.

Carolan-Stegman takes issue with my Wednesday column, where another local psychologist describes such depression as a result of emotional anger.

"There are so many causes and types of depression," Ed Vaughn, a local psychologist, was saying. "Very often, the type of depression which leads to suicide is the result of anger turned inward."

Carolan-Stegman says that is an outdated anecdotal "myth." She says there is no research to support "anger turned inward," and it is certainly not a criteria for diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is published by the American Psychiatric Association.

"To believe that he hung himself in those tortured moments of despair and hopelessness because he suddenly 'turned inwardly angry' is preposterous," Carolan-Stegman writes in an email. "In addition, Mr. Vaughn's comments about his 'ugly way' of killing himself is unbelievably cruel. A person seriously contemplating suicide is unlikely to be influenced by whether their method is attractive or ugly."

It's not for me to debate or referee the philosophies of two psychologists who see Williams' reported suicide from two different perspectives.

We do know from news reports that Robins Williams battled drug and alcohol addiction on and off, and I have read he was worried about financial issues.

"Only Williams and God really know why he did what he did," Vaughn says, and he says it well.

It would not be unreasonable, however, to say that Robin William dealt with a gamut of emotions -- frustration, helplessness, hopelessness, despair and even anger.

Call it the tears of a clown, and not only is Robin Williams a victim of his depression, so are others, including three grown children, a widow, his colleagues and the millions of fans who marveled at his talents.

Robin Williams lived it, and apparently gave up on life as a result of what local therapist Anna Cole describes as a "powerful illness" that engulfed and consumed his mental health at life's end.

We are compassionate, and we do mourn his suffering and his passing. But it was an ugly and permanent end that leaves all of us as victims to an illness without a conscience, which took a life with much more to share with those of us left behind.

Bill Kirby can be reached at kirbyb@fayobserver.com or 323-4848, ext. 486.

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