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Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

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Re: Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

#11

Post by nonrandomstring »

samh748 wrote: post #8
_zzaw wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think that’s what he’s talking about. You’re describing industrial-strength professional therapy; sounded to me like he had more informal counseling/advice/community in mind.

Thanks for this. Yeah I definitely won't want to venture into the "serious stuff" exactly for the reasons stated. My experience has been that, it's the in-between severity that seems to lack good resources. The stuff that self-help books try to address and fail miserably at. The struggles people have that are unsettling, but not serious enough to seek therapy. My whole life is living in this middle place, so it took…

> My experience has been that, it's the in-between severity that seems to lack good resources.

Yes good point, this is an issue with so many services. It's often people in the grey area, falling between the cracks, that get the worst deal - too well to seek help, too messed up to function properly.

(I don't want to derail your thread but I think much is down to lack of simple human contact/friendship caused by digital intermediation.)

You may be on to something with a sort of "buddy system" for hackers floundering under the stress of the current industry.

I didn't mean to put you off seriously looking at training. Just being real. The fact that you reach out already suggests you have the foundation.

Re: Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

#12

Post by samh748 »

_zzaw wrote: post #4

That’s definitely a place I would visit, although I’d probably be more lurking than talking, at least at first. It might sound simplistic, but if I were starting a community like that, I’d start with a WordPress blog or forum; maybe BBpress. I think a clean posting/interacting experience, free from the crap/shadiness of social media, is pretty important given the nature of what would be discussed. Blogs have a more p…

Thanks so much for this! Really appreciate the encouragement and the tips!

What I've noticed is that, sometimes our struggles in the "external" world stem from un-resolved issues with our inner world or our close relationships. Not assuming that's the case for you, but just a general observation.

:)

Re: Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

#15

Post by textadventure »

Sorry to have to be that person but I think it's plainly irresponsible to put yourself in a position to want to help people who are troubled, lost and confused and possibly in need of professional help on which you claim to have no training.

If therapy isn't helping it's generally a matter of a specific therapist who may not be working for you, but psychology is something for which people have studied and trained for years at. The human mind is a complex thing, and being professionally unprepared to deal with people's issues you are potentially at risk of causing harm.

There are already online services like betterhelp.com if people need a professional to talk, and it doesn't have to be something heavy, it could be just about the normal hardships of going through life, family, friendships, love, work, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

#16

Post by R0b0t1 »

textadventure wrote: post #15

Sorry to have to be that person but I think it's plainly irresponsible to put yourself in a position to want to help people who are troubled, lost and confused and possibly in need of professional help on which you claim to have no training. If therapy isn't helping it's generally a matter of a specific therapist who may not be working for you, but psychology is something for which people have studied and trained for…

The track record for real therapy is pretty poor and sometimes the answer you get is "go interact with other people." I don't see this being worse than the nothing that is usually available, but it is a pretty weird website to do it on.

Re: Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

#17

Post by psyc »

coolhoody wrote: post #3

The funny thing about this — is that quite a lot of people can help others — while not being able to help themselves. I had a startup idea — for people in need of such help helping and motivating each other — noticing that I can solve rather complex problems of others while being a prize moron within my own code block. Didn't follow through due to d. My advice to you is: 1. Don't be discouraged if this dies in 'New',…

That guy gets it. Just what I needed to hear and the accent I needed to hear it in.

Re: Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

#19

Post by throwaway81523 »

> To get to my point, I want to start some kind of service/platform where people can come to talk things through and have a sustained conversation about their experience of feeling lost, confused, stuck.

If I understand what you're imagining, there are already subreddits for every variety of that. In the old days there was alt.angst on usenet, but it is likely defunct or taken over with spam by now. There are or were all kinds of other web venues as well, of course.

Re: Ask HN: Are you lost / confused / stuck? I can try to help

#20

Post by fouc »

coolhoody wrote: post #3

The funny thing about this — is that quite a lot of people can help others — while not being able to help themselves. I had a startup idea — for people in need of such help helping and motivating each other — noticing that I can solve rather complex problems of others while being a prize moron within my own code block. Didn't follow through due to d. My advice to you is: 1. Don't be discouraged if this dies in 'New',…

due to what? is d. short for death?
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