His granddaughter is dead, and his daughter is in jail for first-degree murder. Is it any surprise George Anthony might attempt to take his own life?

To say George Anthony has been under tremendous stress and strain is an understatement. From July 16, when his beloved granddaughter went missing, to December 11th, when her remains where found, the 57-year-old former Ohio sheriff's deputy has had to wrestle with the possibility that his own daughter Casey Anthony was the murderer.

Today, George Anthony is on suicide watch in a Florida hospital.

Dr. Charles Sophy, Medical Director for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, says, "George Anthony is a man who is forced to come to grips to face himself."

That won't be easy for the grieving grandfather, who throughout the entire investigation has seemingly lived in a state of constant denial.

"I don't want to believe that I have raised someone, and brought someone in this world, that could do something to another person. I don't want to believe that," Anthony told detectives back in July 2008. He also confessed the smell that emanated from Casey Anthony's abandoned car was familiar to him ... the smell of death: "It's a smell that you never ... get rid of."

But over time, perhaps spearheaded by his wife Cindy, George began to backpedal and remained steadfast in his belief of Casey's innocence. At one point, he even said he believed that his daughter was "110% innocent." Were they covering up the truth or obstructing justice? Only they know the answer to that question ... at least for now.

Today, it seems, the weight of the situation has become too much for him to bear. New documents released on Wednesday served up grisly details -- the heart-shaped sticker placed on Caylee's duct-taped mouth, the Winnie the Pooh blanket buried with the child's remains in a laundry bag. These items presumably could be easily traced back to the Anthony's home, further implicating his daughter in Caylee's murder. Surely adding to Anthony's collective anxiety are the unsubstantiated reports of incestuous relationships within the Anthony's own family and that they plan to profit from Caylee's memorial.

"You don't understand, do you? You just don't understand what this is like," a despondent Anthony reportedly told officers who drove him to Halifax Medical Center this morning for evaluation.

The enormous pressure George Anthony has been under has made him at times prone to violent outbursts, especially when dealing with protesters. Anxiety, according to Dr. Sophy, manifests itself in different ways. "Often it will then spill into depression," he explains.

For George Anthony, who holed himself up in a Daytona Beach motel and penned a six-page suicide note, that depression could have easily ended his life had he not been tracked down first by police via his cell-phone "pings."  He reportedly had sent a text message a short time earlier that said he "wanted to make sure Caylee was in God's arms."

How heartbreaking.

The first step in George Anthony's recovery, says Dr. Sophy, is "to keep him safe so he can be on the path to forthright and truthful." That's why he's currently on suicide watch now.

What exactly do you think motivated George Anthony's suicide attempt?

Recently released documents in the Casey Anthony case:

Forensic Report	Witness Report	Search Warrant	Search Warrant

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