Help Needed
Celebrity with Bipolar Disorder
Elvira Estrada
Darnetta Glover
Hannah Gresham
Tamara Sankofa-Ra
Nakia Smith
Tina Wade
CCMH/522
June 8, 2020
Fanders Anders
Bipolar Disorder and Fame
Robin Williams was a man of various talents, some being his start as a comedian and his roles as an actor. He also had bipolar symptoms and experienced an immense amount of obstacle throughout his life. Within this presentation his mental illness and his life as a celebrity will be discussed. The life of Robin is shared including details of how he became famous. The development of his illness is analyzed to understand how bipolar disorder begins and manifests. To be able to grasp the illness, the symptoms exhibited by Robin are listed. Treatment options available during his lifespan along with treatments that would be recommended today are discussed in detail. Along with information of the illness, Robin’s rise to success is explained acknowledging his illness.
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Description of Robin Williams
Details of his fame
Illness development
Symptoms experienced/exhibited
Treatment options during lifespan
Explanation of success regardless of illness
Recommended treatments (medical, therapeutic/social interventions)
Robin Williams
Born July 21st, 1951
He had a wife and 3 children.
He was a professional.
He experienced unipolar depression, bipolar and addiction.
He died August 11th, 2014 due to suicide by hanging.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Robin Williams was born in Chicago and raised in Michigan. Mr. Williams lived with his mother and father growing up but was raised by his family's housekeeper/caretaker. He was shy during his childhood but was able to overcome it by participating in drama during high school (Davis, 2018). He was married to three women in which he had one child with his first wife and two with his second wife. He began his career in stand-up comedy. Later in Mr. Williams career, he began acting and singing. Mr. Williams stated that his drug and alcohol use started due to stress from performing in stand-up comedy. There is no proof that Mr. Williams has been diagnosed with unipolar depression or bipolar, but his behaviors meet the criteria for the disorders. He did however speak about his addiction and had attended different facilities for treatment. There is no evidence of why Mr. Williams ended his life, but it is suggested that is was due to his mental illness and health issues (Dennis, Coyne, Fowler, etc. all, 2014).
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What Robin Williams Was Famous For:
Mr. Williams career began in stand-up comedy which led into him singing and acting. Mr. Williams starred in a lot of different movies including Mark & Mindy, Good Will Hunting and Mrs. Doubtfire. He also played voices of characters in movies such as Aladdin; he was the voice of the genie and did a lot of singing. Mr. Williams was known for his stand-up comedy which is also what he began doing at the beginning of his career. He played roles of characters in movies along with singing in several animated movies (Dennis, Coyne, Fowler, etc. all, 2014).
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Acting
Being a Comedian
Singing
When His Illnesses First Developed
Mr. Williams began using cocaine and alcohol early during his career. He claimed that his addiction began due to the stress of performing (Davis, 2018). Throughout his life, he was admitted into different treatment facilities. At one point in his life, he stopped using cocaine and only drank alcohol. There is no definite or documented information on his mental illnesses, but the undocumented information may have been what caused him to relapse or continue using. If he was unaware, unable, or unsure of receiving assistance for his mental illnesses, he may have been self-medicating (Dennis, Coyne, Fowler, etc. all, 2014).
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Early during his career, Mr. Williams experienced addiction (cocaine, alcohol), Unipolar Depression, and Bipolar.
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Toward the end of his career (2014) he went to rehab once again for addiction.
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Mr. Williams continued to experience symptoms of his mental illnesses throughout his career.
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Symptoms
What were the primary symptoms?
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Treatment Options
Available Treatment Options
Psychotherapy
Psychosocial Therapy/Support
Hypnosis
Medicines: Stabilizers/Anti-Psychotic
Electroconvulsive
The bipolar disorder primary treatment options available were psychotherapy, medicine and brain stimulation treatments, that was available during this time prior to the death of Robin Williams. Patients need to be committed to the Cognitive and medicine treatments, because reducing or stopping prescribed medicine without assistance of doctor could cause a higher risk of symptoms of depression or manic behavior. It is said that most people with bipolar disorder require a continued treatment that last a lifetime (Shorter, 2014)
According to the reading, Robin Williams widow stated “he was treated with both psychotherapy and psychotropic medications. He went to Stanford for hypnosis to treat his anxiety and exercised with a physical trainer” (Miller, 2016).
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Success
Discuss how you think this celebrity was able to remain successful in spite of the mental illness.
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Recommended Treatments: Medical
Mr. Robin Williams died by suicide. Hospitalization would be a recommendation based on his history of depression along with his current development of Parkinson’s disease. There may have needed to be an adjustment to his medication such as dosage, or an addition. Levodopa (L-Dopa) was in his system. L-Dopa is a dopamine replacement, which is the most common treatment for Parkinson’s disease. DBS Surgery is used for Parkinson’s Disease by disrupting electrical signals in the brain.
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Hospitalization: Reduce symptoms, monitor client, adjust medications, and provide therapy.
Levodopa Therapy: Treatment for Parkinson disease.
Seroquel Therapy: Helps with symptoms of bipolar depression.
Surgery: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS).
Increase Dr. visits for more frequent follow-ups.
Recommended Treatments: Therapeutic
The therapeutic Inventions are all aimed at educating the client and loved ones. Understanding Parkinson and Bipolar is important. Understanding how you feel and deciphering between healthy and unhealthy emotions can help change behavior and improve symptoms. Social Rhythm therapy could help with sleeping, which could help improve disorders whether by feeling less anxious, more rested and less foggy brain and incoherent thoughts.
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Attend Support Group for clients and caretakers: Depression and/or Parkinson’s disease.
Individual Therapy: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Social Rhythm Therapy.
Group/Family Therapy: All family members included.
Recommended Treatments: Social
The Social Recommendations are suggested to help improve self-esteem, increase exercise, strengthen relationships, increase social interaction and exercise. Participating in activities such as water aerobics, tennis, chess or checkers have benefits, such as cardio and brain stimulation, but most importantly the majority of them cannot be completed alone. They require an opponent. Having an older opponent will increase the chance of less strenuous effort, enjoyment, and provide social interaction. Although he slept separately from his wife, returning to the same bed could provide the benefits of comfort, safety, and human touch.
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Join
Join a club for people 55 and older.
Participate in
Participate in an event with a person over 50 once-twice a week (Water aerobics, tennis, chess, checkers…)
Return
Return to sharing bed with wife.
Conclusion
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
Washington, DC: Publisher.
Ingersoll, R. E. & Rak, C. F. (Eds.) (2016). Psychopharmacology for mental health professionals: An integrative
approach (2nd ed.). Retrieved from the VitalSource Bookshelf.
Miller, D. (2016, October). Widow of Robin Williams places his suicide in context. MDedge.,
Retrieved from https://www.mdedge.com/psychiatry/article/115370/depression/widow-Robin-
Williams-places-his-suicide-context
Shorter, E. (2014, August). The Suicide of Robin Williams We can learn from this tragic story . Psychology
Today., Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-everyone-became-
depressed/201408/the-suicide-robin-williams
References
Davis, M. V. (2018). Robin Williams. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.
Dennis, A., Coyne, K., Fowler, T., Gomez, P., Green, M., Helling, S., Heyman, J. d., Lang, A., Leonard, E., Mcneil, E., Nelson, J., Olya, G., Rice, L., Rubenstein, J. R., Sands, N., Strohm, E., & Chiu, M. (2014). 1951-2014 Robin Williams. (cover story). People, 82(8), 62.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams
https://psychcentral.com/blog/robin-williams-bipolar-sufferer-dead-at-63-due-to-suicide/