• Depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities for more than two weeks. 
• Mood represents a change from the person's baseline.
• Impaired function: social, occupational, educational.
• Specific symptoms, at least 5 of these 9, present nearly every day:

References:
https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2237-60892016000300178

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lewy-body-dementia-gripped-robin-williams1/#:~:text=In%20the%20months%20before%20his,case%20of%20Lewy%20body%20dementia.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/05/robin-williams-death-biography-dave-itzkoff-excerpt

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/286759-clinical#b4

 

It was reported that his health became to take a serious turn, from his alcohol addiction in 2003, to being hospitalized and having surgery for an aortic valve replacement as a result of heart problems.

 

In 2014, the year that he passed away, Williams’ was dealing with a lot of issues in him personal life. He relapsed in his alcohol addicted and was then admitted to rehab. Along side this, the emotional stress from trying to resolve his 2 divorces from his ex-partners were also taking a toll on him. During the divorce, millions were spent on the settlement (more than 10 million to be exact). He was starting to face a financial slump, forced to sell his estates and the second season of his tv series “The Crazy Ones” was cancelled. 

 

In hindsight, he was dealing with stressful divorce separations, which ended on emotionally draining terms. He was facing a financial plunge from having to spend tens of millions in the settlement, forced to sell things which meant a lot to him, and one of his sourced of income had been cancelled. He was then diagnosed with Parkinson’s-like symptom, which had been report to have been the catalyze of his anxiety, restlessness, sleep-taking, paranoia, hallucinations, and finally he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. All of this happened shortly after his recent heart surgery. 

 

In my personal opinion, it seemed as if Williams was in a tight spot where everything didn’t seemed right in the world. He already had depression and anxiety, when you mix them with other mood disorders and comorbidities  it seemed to have deeply effected his suicidal tendencies. It seemed like bad things were happening one after another for him. When looking at what he was going through mentally, and comparing it to the percentages of suicidal risks, in a way, even though it is immensely saddening to think about, it was not surprising to see that he had chose to go down that route.

Personally, I would not be able to pinpoint as to what exactly is the single cause of his death. This is because, there is not single cause, it cause of it is a combination of everything that he was dealing with at that time. His third wife mentioned in an interview with The New York Times that apparently every month it was a different symptom that he had to try and overcome (Robin Williams’s Widow Points to Dementia as a Suicide Cause, 2016).   

After reading on Lewy Body dementia it mentions how people start to behave not like themselves. It is a progressive diseases, thus, it gets worser and worser, until eventually everything becomes too much for them to handle.

Tohid, H. (2016). Robin Williams' suicide: a case study. Trends Psychiatry Psychother, 38(3), 178-182.
What is Lewy Body Dementia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-lewy-body-dementia
Robin Williams’s Widow Points to Dementia as a Suicide Cause (November 3, 2015). Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/health/robin-williams-lewy-body-dementia.html

2.      Take medications that have been prescribed by doctors such as antidepressants to ease symptoms of depression and lower the risk of suicide. For instance, lithium which can help in reducing suicidal thoughts. Even though there is controversial in using of medication in adolescent but is proven that medication can help in decrease suicidal thoughts in adults (Hooley, Butcher, Nock & Mineka, 2017).

 

3.      Seek help from family members and friends. Whenever suicidal thoughts come to mind search for accompany and do not be alone. By having someone his side can avert his attention from keep on thinking of having suicide.

 

4.      Attending religious events which could help him in find another way to bring his back on track rather than choosing suicide as a solution. People who take religious support can reduced suicidal thoughts as their time will be occupied with benefits things rather than being alone.

References:
Hooley, J. M., Butcher, J. N., Nock, M., & Mineka, S. (2017). Abnormal psychology

https://www.healthline.com/health/suicide-and-suicidal-behavior#suicidal-signs