How often have we joked that, “I feel depressed” because someone was mean to us or we failed an exam or ran out of chocolate or can’t find the right handbag to go with our new outfit? Most of the time, no one took us seriously, especially since we were not truly suffering from a cellular disease that affected our behaviour and clouded our thinking.

Today however, we reflect on the death (by hanging with a belt) of another stellar talent who could not sustain his life through the dark corridors of impenetrable depression. Robin Williams made so many of us laugh but he lost his battle with demons I can’t begin to imagine.

Here is a young man – Mark Henick – who speaks from the heart about why people choose suicide as an option. I vow that I will try harder to understand.