Missing Webroot founder found dead

Police have recovered the body of missing technology entrepreneur Steven Thomas, the founder of anti-spyware firm Webroot Software. A body identified as Thomas was discovered by firefighters below the Pali Highway lookout near the Pali Tunnel in Hawaii, Nine News reports. The 36-year-old, who was diagnosed with manic …

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean Spyware

Is nothing more than a paranoid delusion?

[Anonymous Coward]

@AC

His being paranoid doesn't mean "they" weren't out to get him. It seems "they" got him finally, eh?

Mine's the bullet-proofed one with the tin-foil hat in the pocket.

[Anonymous Coward]

@@AC

Or that's just what "they" want us all to believe.

[Charles Manning]

Manic depressives

Being manic depressive does not exclude other obsessions. Instead, other delusions and obsessions can help to trigger manic depressive behaviour. Mental illnesses are hardly ever well defined. Instead, if you rack up enough points on a list of symptoms you get to wear the label. Thus not all manic depressives are equal.

[theotherone]

yeah

yeah i'd be a manic depressive too if id sold my company for a hundred million dollars....

Bill G cause he must be really really depressed....

[Stuart Barnett]

@ Charles Manning

"... not all manic depressives are equal".

That's depressing

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, no mention of what he died of?

So, I call shenanigans on this one. Perhaps they really were after him? I mean, what else is there? Was he so crazy he just jumped off the tunnel into traffic or something? I need a cause of death.

[Wayland Sothcott]

Medication

If he was paranoid then he was able to imagine all sorts of threats that he had little proof of. This type of mind would work well to tackle malcious software attacks.

The problem with his medication was probably that it messed with his abilities. SSRI's are given so you don't care, not so you feel happy. Most people care too much about life to kill themselves, people on SSRI's don't care so killing themselves is no big deal. I don't know how long it takes to come off SSRI's.

It's a real shame.

[kain preacher]

Experiment

They have to experiment till they get the right combo of meds. The meds them self can leave you feeling like zombie. Often the people say the hell with this. I can be screwed up or a shell of person.

[PunkTiger]

@Brent

Cause of death? Google for images of "Pali Lookout." He essentially jumped off a cliff. The cause of death was most likely shock and trauma from sudden deceleration.

...most likely.

...unless they really *did* get him.

[Robert Hill]

NO bad jokes here...

This is a person's demise we are discussing, an insightful and possibly very smart man who was obviously loved by his wife and family. He suffered from a debilitating illness that finally caught up to him, a very sad story indeed.

AFAIK, meds for maniac depression (which I believe is also called bipolar disorder) are not the same as drugs for plain depression. SSRIs are common for depression treatment, but lithium is more commonly used for bipolar - something about the SSRIs making bipolars always manic if I remember. If someone with a real medical degree can comment or correct me that might be useful...

[RW]

@ Wayland Sothcott

It can take months to come off SSRI's. I have a friend who's decided to go off bupropion (Wellbutrin), and per his doctor's advice it will take him 4 or 5 months to taper off. Very, very slowly and gradually, with regular assessment of depressive symptoms.

As for feeling like a zombie, a well-known side effect of many anti-depressants, in some cases at least it's because after about 6 weeks you should switch to a very low maintenance dose. But few doctors know this, so their patients end up overmedicated -- and feeling like zombies in consequence.

[Kristin McKechie]

Ummm....

Has anyone asked how this obviously unwell person managed to travel unseen from his hotel room to the top of a very high, (but also very popular), tourist destination and apparently throw himself from the lookout?

'He disappeared after leaving the room to visit the bathroom' just sounds a little short of a full explanation.....

If he had taken his car, I doubt his wife would have had time to fly from Colorado to hand out Wanted posters before the body was discovered....

[Alex]

@Robert

"a very sad story indeed"

Hear hear. Very sad indeed, and a real shame that no-one appeared to help the poor chap with his depression.

[Anonymous Coward]

Callous

The term 'manic depression' was ditched years ago because of the negative and misleading associations with the label. It is now 'bipolar disorder'. Bipolar is not funny, it is a lifelong debilitating disease that destroys lives, relationships and in around 1/3 of cases results in suicide.

I'd like to think that I do know what I am talking about, even though I'm not medically trained - I've suffered from this illness for around 25 years. The care I received until a year ago has been appalling as it is a much-misunderstood and misdiagnosed disease. SSRIs can be appropriate for the depressive phase in some patients (they work for me, for example). A mood stabiliser such as Lithium or Sodium Valproate is an essential to stop the mood swings and frequently an anti-psychotic is required to stop delusions, halluicantions, paranoia.

So, please lay off the comments about whether they really did get him - the illness did.

AC for pretty obvious reasons!

[Anonymous Coward]

RE:Callous

Never going to happen im afraid. To many people have set ideas about mental illness. It is all to acceptable to use words like "Crazy" and "loony", even by people who would never dream of using the word "cripple". The problem is people are (Understandably) afraid to stand up and say something, often because of the stigma attached, or because they are unable to.

My Wife is very ill with mental health problems (I would rather not say any more) and we fight every day to get the support we need from the Doctors, never mind anything else.

As for the talk about SSRIs, they can be very good, but only if you get the right ones. It is normaly considerd to be an advers reaction if you get the dissacosiation "zombie" feeling, but so many Doctors don't care. My wife has even been told by one Doctor "I am not changing your medication because noone else is having that problem.". We went else where.

[andy gibson]

RIP

From a long time paid customer of Window Washer.

[Seán]

Ha ha ha

What a tool, all that money and he couldn't even get his head shrunk, pathetic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Manic depression is more descriptive

I suffered from manic depression for 25 years to the point of being on disability for the last couple. Only a little while ago I discovered that my symptoms were made *MUCH* worse by caffeine. Being caffeine-free has been a huge win for me.

And ya, the wrong psych drug can put you into hospital with mania. I had a 6 month run with Imipramine. That lovely drug got me 2 weeks on a psych ward.

[Anonymous Coward]

A shame indeed.

Depression in general is treated as a stigma and truly understood by non-sufferers. Yet there are many, many sufferers. Bipolar disorder is a massively damaging problem to sufferers. Huge highs of creativity followed by periods of truly horrifying despair.

Stephen Fry is a sufferer of bipolar disorder, yet nobody could deny his aptitude and fearsome intelligence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Fry) Yet, in his own words, when he suffers the negative side of this problem, he thinks of himself as a “cunt”. (Moderators, please allow this use of a word that normally gets posts banned, Fry himself has said this on TV and it illustrates just how low somebody’s opinion of themselves reaches when in the negative cycle of this disorder).

Remember this dear reader, not all mental problems result in a danger to others, some result in a danger to the sufferers and nobody else.

I think that Steven Thomas suffered this negative cycle, yet he was clearly had a creative mind. A shame for him that although he had more money than most of us, it meant nothing in the end.

My thoughts go out to his family.

Sean (with an accent), the only pathetic thing on this thread is you. Your post serves as a testament to your ignorance and intolerance.

Pad.

[StopthePropaganda]

why didn't his wife intervene and call his doctor?!

I call BS on this one. What sort of tool would sit there, let a loved one refuse to take medications, knowing he's having issues with functioning and rationality, and then leave him to his own devices while heading conveniently a thousand miles away? As his wife she could force the issue for his own safety. but she didn't and now he's dead. Which either means she was too stupid to realize that it would be better for him to hate her for intervening but have a chance to get better, or pulled a "Courtney Love" and let him get worse since he wasn't on the cutting edge anymore and raking in big VC?

I have friends, one of whom is having doctor and medication change issues. Her husband is her advocate, even when she's unable or even unwilling to have him act in her behalf. Because when things get straightened out later, she's always glad he did, despite what she said while impaired or otherwise out of it.

[stizzleswick]

(no idea what to title this with)

@Séan: Go gargle with concentrated sulphuric acid. Better yet, use a mix of hydrochloric and nitreous acids.

Concerning paranoia, just because you're paranoid does NOT mean they are not out to get you... but in this case, really a sad loss as I don't think they really were out to get him.

@everybody quibbling about terminology: I have grown up with this collection of syndromes being called "manic depressive." I personally know a few people who are affected. Some of them are truly brilliant persons, and I respect all who are affected.

[Bruce Sinton]

Bipolar/Manic Depression

The trend now is to change the name of a medical problem to one that no longer describes or relates to the condition.

This is the modern "Political Correctness" idea effecting everything.

My niece told me a more recent name for this condition- Globular disfunction I think it was.

Soon we will not know what we are talking about.

In my case , I am just a rundown, clapped out , one foot in the grave 77 year old meat eater.

I do however appreciate the problem of mental Illness - Was an Ambulance Officer in the 70s and 80s and had experience with such patients.

Also support the Neurological Foundation, and keep up to date on brain issues.

Gotten Himmel - even run Folding@Home (research into cause of diseases ),

on my computer.

Not all of us are insensitive swine.