Some people can cope better than others.  I've been suffering with bipolar disorder for about 7 years now (signs were there before that, but it didn't really start affecting my life until ~15 or so), and while I've managed to find ways of dealing with the swings and using both sides to my advantage, it's not always easy.<p>In a particularly bad depressive period, it's not uncommon that'll isolate myself and feed into it, eventually ending up with suicidal thoughts.  Thanks to a solid support network and years of learning to cope, I can typically at least pull myself up to the point where I can tell myself "this isn't really what you want, you're just in the throws of depression".  If my support network were to crumble at the same time as a major event occurred (like what seems to have happened to him, w.r.t. the very premature babies), getting through this would be very, very difficult.<p>I can't so much as imagine what he was going through, and my condolences go out to his family and friends.