Jumping in front of a lorry is "easier" is it? I've read some woeful stuff on here but this takes the biscuit.
He's not hiding behind anything, like he consciously uses depression as a teflon shield like Little seems to think - the fact he "uses" it is part of the bloody condition. The fact he doesn't admit his failings with lifestyle choices is part of the condition. Depression is all-encompassing, it's something you often don't know you're having difficulties with until you've done something stupid, a light comes on briefly, then flickers out and you do something stupid again.
Some people drink, some gamble, some go silent for days on end, some people sleep all day or don't sleep at all, some people become over-exuberant and chat non-stop, looking like the happiest person in the world but it's a functioning defence of the condition to the outside world.
I don't like Carlisle. He comes across as a pompous fool half the time, but I'll never, ever call him a coward for jumping in front of a truck, because he lacked the mental capacity to make that decision to do so uninhibited. Robin Williams' suicide wasn't universally panned for cowardice, despite leaving loved ones behind and having no consideration for emergency services, people who found him etc. because it was generally accepted that he was mentally in a place which made all such considerations impossible. That isn't cowardice - the choice to be coward is withdrawn from you in the situation these people find themselves in. It's not like they wake up and say, "Hey, you know what, I'm going to ruin a lorry drivers life today, hahaha!"
That Ralf Little statement that Bryan sadly thinks is "nail on head" stuff is the ramblings of a biased idiot who doesn't like him personally and should have had the sense to walk away if he couldn't tolerate him, and it's on his own head if he didn't. He's applying his own moral code and mindset to a man he couldn't possibly understand, because he doesn't go through the daily rigmarole that someone with this level of depression does.
It's been said that depression doesn't make you bullet proof for deeds in your life - and no, it doesn't. But it's a hell of a mitigating factor, and if a man drink drives over and over again and throws himself in front of a bloody truck, then clearly it's a big mitigating factor, as these aren't the actions of a 'normal' person. Yes, some arseholes do drink and drive over and over again, but those arseholes don't commit suicide if they're doing it because they're whoppers and for that reason alone.
Basically, if you haven't lived inside Carlisles head, and for that matter any person who suffers from these types of mental disorders, then don't comment, as you have no clue and never will.
