In an opinion piece in the Indianapolis Star (8/22), Richard Gunderman, MD, chancellor’s professor at Indiana University, and Mark Mutz, an attorney and consultant, wrote in wake of comedian Robin Williams’ suicide and lifelong struggle against substance abuse, “the president of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Paul Summergrad, was quoted as saying that we must ‘stop seeing these illnesses as faults and blames, and instead see them for what they are: medical conditions, genetic conditions and brain disorders.’”
But, according to Gunderman and Mutz, “it would be a mistake to say that disorders such as depression, substance abuse and suicidal thoughts are simply a reflection of biochemical imbalances and nothing more,” when certain “other factors, such as life experiences, are clearly important.”
Related Links:
— “Factors that lead to suicide are complex, as is life itself,” Richard Gunderman and Mark Mutz, Indianapolis Star, August 22, 2014.