Traditionally, many conditions labeled under the umbrella of 'mental illness' were summed up solely as genetic or biochemical imbalances. Modern advances in psychiatric medicine have found causation to be more and more integrated to lifestyle and environmental factors, often finding the fundamental cause to be multi-factorial
Robin Williams' health history would have made him a perfect candidate for Hoffer's high-dose niacin therapy. But would this therapy been better than the "best" drugs available to Williams?
Robin Williams' suicide death was shocking and surprising, until his health problems were made public. He'd been diagnosed with depression and Parkinson's disease in addition to having had a history of alcoholism and recreational drug abuse. And he had surgery in 2009 for a heart condition.