Robin Williams Analysis

Patrick Gonyo and Kevin McCoy

Introduction
Many of us knew of Robin
Williams, the award winning
actor and comedian, but most
did not know he suffered from
depression until he took his own
life in 2014 at the age of 63.

Summary of Case Study

The comedian and actor Robin Williams was born on July

21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois to former model Laura and Ford
Motor executive Robert. His father was forty-six when Robin
was born. He was strict and didn't have a lot of time for his
young son. Robins mother was an aspiring model who had
many philanthropic interests outside the home. She, too,
was largely absent and already wounds were beginning to
form when he was very young that would never heal
(Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo, 2012, p. 25).

Summary of Case Study

Williams was bullied badly during his childhood for being
chubby and would spend most of his time playing alone in
the family's large home to avoid his tormentors. Eventually,
he conquered his overweight label by joining the wrestling
and track teams, and realizing he could make the other
children laugh as a way of gaining respect from them.
Williams' father took early retirement when he was 16 and
they moved to California where he finished his education at
Redwood High School. After graduation in 1969, Williams
attended Claremont Men's College, studying political science
and playing soccer. He ended up taking lessons in
improvisation, which perfectly suited his sharp wit and he
was soon hooked on acting.

Summary of Case Study

After leaving Claremont, Williams enrolled at the College
of Marin to study acting and quickly won a full scholarship to
the renowned Juilliard School in New York City where he
studied with Christopher Reeve. The pair became great
friends - a friendship that would last until Reeve's death in
2004. He also met dancer Valerie Velardi while at Juilliard
and the couple wed in 1978. They had a son, and named him
Zachary. Williams practiced stand-up in his spare time and
he soon realised, after taking advice from a friend, that
comedy rather than acting was his best way forward. He
promptly left Juilliard for Los Angeles and ended up working
his act on the West Coast comedy circuit.

Summary of Case Study

In 1977, Williams won a spot on 'The Richard Pryor Show'
and his big break was just around the corner. Garry Marshall,
creator of the hugely popular 'Happy Days' TV program, was
planning an 'out-there' episode where the Fonz would be
abducted by aliens. At the auditions, Marshall asked Williams
to sit down but he instead sat on his head and was instantly
employed. Playing Mork from the planet Ork, Robin was a
sensation so much so that a new show was created for him
'Mork And Mindy'. The show was a hit, earning Williams his
first Golden Globe win in 1979 - Mork's greeting, 'Nanu-nanu',
became a worldwide catch-phrase.

Summary of Case Study

In 1980, Hollywood finally came knocking and Williams
took the title role in Robert Altman's 'Popeye'. The critics and
audience alike panned the film though, and Williams was
forced to seek solace in the comfort of Mork and Mindy for a
further two years, until he starred in the film 'The World
According To Garp'.

Summary of Case Study

1982 marked a downfall in Williams' personal life as his

battle with alcohol and drugs, specifically cocaine, had a
destructive effect on his marriage, despite Valerie's attempts
to curb his addictions. 1983's 'The Survivors' was another
relative flop and it wasn't until 1987 and five films later, that
Williams finally hit the jackpot with 'Good Morning Vietnam'.
Playing real-life military DJ Adrian Cronauer, Williams earned
himself his first Academy Award nomination and his second
Golden Globe win. The following year, Valerie hired Marsha
Garces to be nanny to Zachary.

Summary of Case Study

By 1987, Valerie and Williams had separated and Marsha
became his assistant, travelling with him before the pair
eventually fell in love and married in 1989, going on to have
two children together - Zelda Rae and Cody Alan.

Depression
Depression is more than just sadness. People with depression
may experience a lack of interest and pleasure in daily activities,
significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or excessive sleeping,
lack of energy, inability to concentrate, feelings of worthlessness
or excessive guilt and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
Depression is the most common mental disorder. Fortunately,
depression is a treatable affliction. A combination of therapy and
antidepressant medication can help ensure recovery.

Who is Affected by Depression?

Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million
American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age
18 and older, in a given year.
While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the
median age at onset is 32.
Depression is more prevalent in women than in men.
There is no debate over whether or not depression has an impact
upon family life.
Side effects such as irritability, negative thought patterns, and
withdrawal can disrupt the family dynamic
While depression can have a negative impact upon a family, they
can be major forces of care, comfort, and even cure

Biological Perspective

The biological perspective is defined as an approach that

focuses on the physical causes of a behavior (Pastorino &
Doyle-Portillo, 2012, p. 24) such as a chronic pain,
debilitating injury or illness.

In the case of Robin Williams, living with Parkinson's

disease may have been a biological factor of his
depression.

Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was a naturalist from England who
focused on the physical causes of behavior. In his studies
regarding natural selection and evolution, he discovered that
natural selection was the agent for transmutation of
organisms during evolution. Darwin was born in 1809 in
Shrewsbury, England the fifth child of parents Robert and
Susannah Darwin.

Charles Darwin
At 9 years of age, he began attending the Shrewsbury
School in England. In 1825 Darwin began studying medicine
at Edinburgh University, then later he studied botany at
Christs College in Cambridge. Years later, Darwin was
offered a position of naturalist on the a voyage of the H.M.S.
Beagles second survey of the coast of Patagonia and Tierra
del Fuego. He accepted the position and left in 1831 to
return in 1836, spending 535 days at sea and roughly 1200 on
land.

Charles Darwin
One of The H.M.S. Beagles roles was to survey the coast of
Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego and complete observations of
longitude by circumnavigation. Darwin made field
observations using a notebook and collected specimens of
living organisms found on the H.M.S. Beagles voyage for
identification on the spot, or later in Paris or London. Darwin
published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the
Struggle for Life on Nov. 24, 1859. Darwin began to gain
worldwide attention for his hypothesis when this book was
published. ("Charles Robert Darwin" 1998).

Textbook Application
Statistically speaking, Robin Williams was extremely unlikely to
be affected by depression or commit suicide. The fact that he did
commit suicide reveals something very important about suicide
and depression: they can happen to anybody, and it can be
difficult to tell when its affecting you or anybody else.
People who are depressed tend to engage in what is called a
ruminative coping style. To ruminate means to focus on your
thoughts. People who are depressed spend a lot of time thinking
about their illness and why they are depressed. They tend not to
do anything about their depression or its causes but rather remain
focused on repetitively analyzing their feelings and concerns.
This focus makes it more likely that they will become more
severely depressed and stay depressed longer. Creativity is a
defining characteristic of the late Robin Williams. Can a strong
imagination intensify the effects of rumination?

Psychological Diagnosis and

Recommended Therapy
Robin Williams suffered from Depression, Parkinsons
Disease, and Bipolar Disorder. Depression is a disorder that
affects your mood, and causes feelings of sadness, loneliness
and hopelessness. Letting depression go untreated can cause
problems with a person's work, social life, and even
relationships. In the case of Robin Williams, his depression
and bipolar disorder could have been worsened by the onset
of Parkinsons Disease, which would have been biological or
physiological in nature.

Psychological Diagnosis and

Recommended Therapy
Williams drug and alcohol abuse may have been a
behavioral factor as well to his depression. The
recommended treatment for the biological root of Williams
disorders would be psychoanalytic therapy, and for his drug
and alcohol abuse behavioral therapy may have been
appropriate. The method of psychiatric therapy, or
psychoanalytical therapy, originated from Sigmund Freud and
involves free association, dream interpretation, and analysis
of resistance and transference which are used to explore
repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal
conflicts.

Psychological Diagnosis and

Recommended Therapy
Behavioral therapy is a treatment that helps change
potentially self-destructing behaviors. It is also called
behavioral modification or cognitive behavioral therapy.
Medical professionals use this type of therapy to replace bad
habits with good ones. The therapy also helps you cope with
difficult situations.

Empirical Research Study

Effects of a 12-Week Mindfulness, Compassion, and Loving
Kindness Program on Chronic Depression: A Pilot WithinSubjects Wait-List Controlled Trial describes a study of
techniques used to increase ones self-esteem that can be
useful for patients suffering from chronic depression.

Mainstream Article
Depression deserves better treatment by Kristen Patrick
MBBCh DA, addresses the public's understanding of
depression, and its reaction on digital media to Williams
recent suicide

Opinion
Robin Williams is the perfect representation of how Depression
can affect anybody, and how serious the illness can be
While medication can often be beneficial to a person suffering
from depression, it is not always necessary to be written a
prescription in order to live with the mood disorder
There is a plethora of natural treatments for depression.
Considering why you might feel so blue, exercising, never
skipping meals, and exposing yourself to a healthy amount of
sunlight are just a few of the ways you can treat depression.
A healthy amount of sadness is very important no matter who
you are, even though it may be difficult to understand while
experiencing it.

References

Burnett, D. (2015, November 4). Robin Williams, depression and dementia: the clinical picture.
Retrieved April 2, 2016, from The Guardian website:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/20/robin-williams-worlds-greatest-dad-alcohol-drugs

Charles Robert Darwin. (1998, December 12). In Gale Biography in context.

Depression. (n.d.). Retrieved from American Psychological Association website:

http://www.apa.org/topics/depress/

Graser, J., MSc, Hfling, V., PhD, WeBlau, C., PhD, Mendes, A., MSc, & Stangier, U., PhD. (2016).
Effects of a 12- week mindfulness, compassion, and loving kindness program on chronic depression:
A pilot within-subjects wait-list controlled trial. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 30(1), 35-49.

Grohol, J. M., Psy.D. (n.d.). Robin Williams, Mental Illness Sufferer, Dead at 63 Due to Suicide.
Retrieved March 18, 2016, from World of Psychology website:
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/08/11/robin-williams-bipolar-sufferer-dead-at-63due-to-suicide/

Herbert, E. (2014). Robin Williams When The Laughter Stops 1951-2014.

Marano, H. E. (2002, March 1). Depression: A Family Matter. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from
Psychology Today website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200203/depression-familymatter

Park, A. (2014, August 11). Robin Williams Depression Struggles May Go Back Decades. Retrieved
April 2, 2016, from Time website: http://time.com/3102414/robin-williams-depression-struggles-goback-decades/

Pastorino, E., & Doyle-Portillo, S. (2012). What is Psychology? Foundations, Applications and
Integration (Print 02 ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Patrick, K., MBBCh DA. (2014). Depression deserves better treatment [Editorial]. CMAJ, 186, 1043.

References (Cont.)

Robin Williams Roles. Digital image. Toronto Sun. Postmedia, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016. <
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/08/11/robin-williams-most-memorable-roles>.
J. (2013). Robin Williams Crazy First Appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Retrieved May
01, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr1DSLoHni0