The death by suicide of Robin Williams has affected the entire nation and has also affected me profoundly.  I am truly in mourning. I will miss his talent, his humor, his insight and his authenticity - his vulnerability. He had the ability to laugh at his foibles and his imperfections and he had the ability to laugh at the world's as well.

Suicide - I am sure that some people have never considered it, but I don't know many people like that.  I have considered it many times, but always in the context of overwhelming problems at the time.  My therapist would say, "Would you still want to kill yourself if this situation did not exist?" And the answer would always be "No." I was in a psych ward once years ago and I asked a young girl who was suicidal that same question.  She responded with "my situation will never get better...never." That is the problem.  She, like most young people, have not lived long enough to know that pain ends.