I’ve been reading a lot of posts on Robin Williams, and a primary theme that keeps getting repeated seems to be, “If he only knew how much everyone loved him.”

The outcome would have still been the same.

And, while I don’t wish to answer questions or discuss this in anymore detail than I write in this post right now, at one point in my life a person who was close to me considered suicide. At the time I talked with doctors and psychiatrists, and I read everything I could on the topic of suicidal depression. To better understand it. To cope myself. To show proper support. (I also learned a LOT about “attempts” that I will not discuss, but that’s for completely different reasons and motives.)

Here’s a synopsis of what I learned. I can sum it up in a few short sentences. It’s always about them, not about you, your love, or your feelings for that person — those things become irrelevant. Depression is real, and when it pushes a person to commit suicide it was for their reasons, no one “drove” them to do such a thing. All the love in the world means nothing if they can’t love and accept themselves.  Understand that knowing you are loved is not the same as experiencing love.  You must to be able to receive and reciprocate love in order to experience being loved.  One of the most devastating aspects of depression is that it disrupts our ability to experience the love around us.

Love yourself, friends. You’re worth it.