Flowers, photographs and candles surround the star of actor-comedian Robin Williams along the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Nick Ut, The Associated Press)
Re: “Robin Williams, manic funnyman, dead at 63,” Aug. 12 news story.
On his death certificate, it will say Robin Williams died from suicide due to asphyxiation. It will not list the actual cause of death. According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, adults suffering from a serious mental illness die 25 years before a mentally healthy person. And yet no one dies from mental illness. If someone shoots himself, the cause of death is “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” not depression. If someone drinks themselves to death, the cause of death is alcoholism, not schizophrenia. Obesity is a common side effect of many psychiatric medications. Cause of death? Heart attack, not bipolar. Of course, not all alcoholics or obese people are mentally ill. Letap stay focused on just this fact — no one dies from mental illness. Which makes the tears of this clown particularly tragic. Itap time to be rid of the social stigma surrounding this issue.
Lisa Hall, Denver
This letter was published in the Aug. 13 edition.
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