Abstract
Robin Williams' death by suicide in August could be the best thing that's happened for mental health awareness in years. Talking about mental health is shushed, and those afflicted with the disease are often complicit in that silence. As much as Williams enriched our lives through laughter, his legacy will be longer and deeper if his passing pushes us toward a deeper and more compassionate understanding about mental illness. And that understanding can only begin by shining the light on it and bringing discussions about mental illness into the open.
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