By now we’re all aware of the tragic death of Robin Williams. Reactions to the loss of this great man are being expressed as a mix of universal shock and profound sadness. As this period of mourning loses its grip on us, questions fill our thoughts. We wonder how a comic genius and a staunch family man could give in to this apparent act of suicide, why Robin Williams depression won out over the love expressed by his family and his millions of devoted fans. The answer, perhaps, lays in a lifetime spent battling the mental illness that dragged him into the shadows. Depression linked to drugs is a dangerous mix for anyone, but Robin Williams, undeniable comedic genius that he was, faced the additional pressures of coping with fame and the overlay of expectations placed upon him by the public, expectations to always be zany and funny.

The sad truth of this incident seems to illustrate the point that no amount of fame or success can blunt the force of addiction. Robin Williams depression acted as a void within him, a space that he filled with illicit substances during the formative days of his comedic career. Hallucinations plagued his mind due to a cocaine habit, but success acted as a reality check, and he realized that depression linked to drugs was a sure path to tragedy. Periods spent in and out of rehab, most recently at the Hazelden Addiction Center in Minnesota, (oregonian.com) helped him kick the habit, but addiction doesn’t just fade into the distance after completing a rehab program. The specter of the addiction sits on the shoulder of an addict, always ready to whisper words of temptation during moments of weakness. Robin Williams depression undoubtedly continued to contribute to those moments, and open-heart surgery undertaken in 2009 (nydailynews.com) may have left him more susceptible to the influence of the mental illness after a life spent combating the condition.

The legend that was and still is Robin Williams lives on in us all, and we must take the lessons of his life’s battle to our own hearts, understanding that relapse is always a possibility. Robin experienced relapse in 2010 (nbcnews.com), and we can conclude from this experience that depression linked to drugs is a terrible burden requiring treatment for both the mental health aspect and the indefatigable effects of substance abuse to fill that painful void of depression.