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Bartleby_the_hound t1_j5nsosi wrote

That being said, he did suffer from depression multiple times throughout his life. Not saying you're wrong, just that the quote is still relevant and from experience. The Lewy body disease caused a loss of 40% of his dopamine neurons, which given how important a role dopamine baselines play in depression, it's almost certain he was also depressed, on top of all of the other hellish things the disease threw his way.

For anyone who wants to know more about his death, here's an article from his wife, published by the American Academy of Neurology.

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PunktualPenguin t1_j5o0dli wrote

I think he said that at a time that he didn’t know what was coming and we aren’t sure how far back the effects actually started.

Given that it takes between 5-20 years before it finally kills the person. It’s likely that it ramps up over a longer period and impacted his mental health in the decade or more leading up to his death.

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PogbaFifa23 t1_j5nt1xu wrote

Suffering from depression isn't the same as suffering low mood, grief, sadness, etc. Everyone deals with the latter. Not everyone deals with genuine depression.

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Garmand3r t1_j5ntba4 wrote

Thank you. And there's also a difference between situational depression and chronic/major depression.

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Bartleby_the_hound t1_j5nubsg wrote

In Robin's case history, he admits to having had depression, at least according to his widow, please see the article.

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somabokforlag t1_j5o6pmy wrote

Remember that the role dopamine plays in Parkinsons disease and Lewy Body dementia is not equal to the role in depression. With that said, many suffering dementia also experience depression, that goes for alzheimers, vascular dementia, parkinsons and lewy body dementia.

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Bartleby_the_hound t1_j5om161 wrote

Your global levels affect everything, if they are down as a result of Parkinsons disease or Lewy Body dementia, they are down everywhere. And a loss of 40% of dopamine neurons from baseline is going to affect mood. There isn't a pool for each malady, it's a system.

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