Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 88 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#41

Post by scotty79 »

Try St. John's Wort.

This http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/play/snake-oil-supplem... indicates that it's provably effective against mild depression.

I had a suicidal ideation when I was young but I realized that no matter how worthless I feel dying is the most dumbest, useless, worthless thing I can do. The ultimate loss. Ultimate fail. And no one would care so theres no epic in this. Also it would hurt only my mom who is the person I am most reluctant to hurt.

Plus even if I don't see any future for myself I am extremely curious what will future bring to the world.

Of course maybe I didn't actually learned anything and it's just my mind chemistry changing due to growing up.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#42

Post by seymores »

mindcrime wrote: post #35

Yeah, I came pretty close (I think) to deciding to kill myself back in 1996. After that I went a long time with few - or no - suicidal thoughts, but every once in a while over the past couple of years I found a few of those thoughts creeping in again. I doubt I'll ever actually go through with it, but who can predict these things. Probably the biggest thing(s) I've learned that help: 1. Fish-oil is considered to have…

I was going to point out the nutrition side of depression, mainly how it has been widely observed and lots of studies done that indicate fish oils, vitamin b complex and good exercise beats depression away.

But don't be afraid to get help. Seriously, if it has come down to this low, you probably need it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#43

Post by niels_olson »

doc here. Seems like this is the most common issue on Hacker News. I suspect there is a common thread, something along the lines of negative thinkers are the people who identify problems and strive to solve them, but such a personality is at perpetual risk of decompensating toward depression. I think Andy Thompson's theory makes a ton of sense for most depressives in this community

http://andersonthomson.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Andrew...

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#45

Post by scotty79 »

beej71 wrote: post #24

This is going to sound nuts, and of course I offer no guarantees, but I found that I did a lot better on days I ate bananas. Hear me out for a moment. I really like bananas... I buy a couple bunches and they're gone in a few days. Yummy. But then I don't get to the store for a while, and so on. One day not too long ago, I saw a bit of a correlation between my mood and the days I had bananas. Digging around a bit, ban…

Bananas contain magnesium. Magnesium is supposed to reinforce your mental strength. Most antistress pills you can get without prescription have it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#46

Post by Devilboy »

Alex3917 wrote: post #38
Devilboy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance that can be improved with drugs. Maybe we're just over-prescribing anti-depressants.

"That doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance that can be improved with drugs." While it's not theoretically impossible that depression is caused by a neurotransmitter imbalance, most of the evidence is against it and most researchers now reject the hypothesis. Wikipedia has a nice summary of the current consensus on the serotonin imbalance hypothesis.

But antidepressants do work for some people, even if we don't understand the precise mechanism. I agree that the 'chemical imbalance' theory is probably wrong and certainly oversimplified but for some individuals life is significantly better with antidepressants than without.

Drugs can help.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#47

Post by lisper »

jey wrote: post #32
modality wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stop drinking if you lose control of yourself while drunk, especially if you're a sad drunk. Or at least limit the number of drinks you consume. Coming from someone who struggles with anxiety and paranoia, the first thing I was told when I went to the psychiatrist was to quit drinking. I am by no means an alcoholic, but I used to go out probably twice a week and I'd also have a beer after work to unwind. The result…

Sleeping with alcohol in one's system significantly reduces sleep quality, so your mental state the next day is not nearly as good as it could be, even if you aren't outright hungover. Plus, having sleep debt makes you more likely to drink, which makes you accumulate more sleep debt since you don't sleep as well, even though you're sleeping for longer. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa41.htm https://secure.wi…

> Sleeping with alcohol in one's system significantly reduces sleep quality

Obviously the answer then is to start drinking in the morning.

;-) ;-) ;-)

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#48

Post by Alex3917 »

Devilboy wrote: post #46
Alex3917 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"That doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance that can be improved with drugs." While it's not theoretically impossible that depression is caused by a neurotransmitter imbalance, most of the evidence is against it and most researchers now reject the hypothesis. Wikipedia has a nice summary of the current consensus on the serotonin imbalance hypothesis.

But antidepressants do work for some people, even if we don't understand the precise mechanism. I agree that the 'chemical imbalance' theory is probably wrong and certainly oversimplified but for some individuals life is significantly better with antidepressants than without. Drugs can help.

Of course they can help. But for most people they make the condition worse. And since there is no way for any individual to know in advance whether the drugs will be safe or effective for them in the long term, I don't think it makes much sense to recommend them except for short term use in an emergency or as an option of last resort.

If you've been tested for every nutritional imbalance, and you're getting daily exercise, and socializing sufficiently, and if your work/family situation is good, and if you're taking the appropriate nutritional supplements, and if you've already tried various therapists, then trying one of the various drugs on the market might make sense. But the fact is that these drugs aren't very effective for most people, are extremely addictive, and have a high rate of causing serious side effects, including ones that lead to permanent disability or death.

What's more, the drug makers often lie about the safety and efficacy of their drugs in the clinical trials to get them approved, so the reality is almost certainly worse than what's already being acknowledged. (C.f. all of the scandals surrounding the approval of prozac, lexapro, benzo usage, washing out placebo responders, etc.)

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#49

Post by anonymator »

mindcrime wrote: post #35

Yeah, I came pretty close (I think) to deciding to kill myself back in 1996. After that I went a long time with few - or no - suicidal thoughts, but every once in a while over the past couple of years I found a few of those thoughts creeping in again. I doubt I'll ever actually go through with it, but who can predict these things. Probably the biggest thing(s) I've learned that help: 1. Fish-oil is considered to have…

In 2008 I attempted suicide.

I have dealt with suicidal ideation off & on since I was around 7 years old. My brother committed suicide, and mental illness (including depression) runs in my family. I'm not crazy though, I swear :-)

I've read a number of people say things like, "It's completely normal. You just have to deal with it like everyone else." That's wrong, and really, really dangerous advice. Suicidal ideation is very different from feeling 'blue' every now and then. Suicidal ideation is an indication of something more serious, and if left unchecked can get much worse (did you read my opening line?). Not everyone can get out of depression on their own or with 'natural remedies'. Depression is an illness just like diabetes or hypertension. Sometimes medication is necessary to get better.

I'm glad to hear that you have an appointment with a doctor. That's an important step to take, even if you don't start medication or therapy. After my suicide attempt I saw a psychiatrist 2-3 times and never took medication or did any therapy, but it was honestly very helpful.

I wanted to say that point number 3 above is a huge key to getting better. Remember this: Thoughts lead to emotions, emotions lead to actions. If you don't want to commit suicide (the action), prevent what comes before it (emotions, thoughts). Don't think about suicide and you'll avoid feeling like suicide is the answer. It's hard, but it gets easier over time.

What also helped me--which my psychiatrist recommended--was to create and follow a daily routine. I freelanced from home at the time and found myself with a very erratic sleep pattern, I didn't exercise, and I rarely left my apartment. I got a part-time job that got me out of the house, stopped staying up until 2, 3, 4 in the morning, started exercising, and forced myself to do more socially with my friends. Now, I'm happy and productive.

As a side note, if you're interested in trying any natural remedies for depression, there are basically three options: 1) SAM-e, 2) 5-HTP, 3) St. John's Wort. I have listed them in the order of their generally accepted effectiveness for treating depression and, how would you say, time before affect? St. John's Wort typically takes 2-3 weeks (IIRC) before you start to feel it's effects. SAM-e is supposed to work with in a few days.

Hang in there man. Things are never as bad as you may think, and they will get better in time.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with suicidal thoughts ?

#50

Post by lisper »

> If any of you have dealt with a similar situation, please let me know how to deal with this.

For what it's worth, you are not alone. This happens to a lot of people. It happened to me. Still does on occasion. But it's an individual thing. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. You have to try different things and find out what works for you.

Here's what works for me:

1. Exercise. It's amazing what a good dose of endorphines can do.

2. Focusing on the many ways in which life could suck but doesn't, e.g.:

http://www.zoriah.net/blog/2009/04/guest-photographerphotojo...

(If by chance you live in Bangladesh, then I'm afraid I am at a loss.)

3. This is kind of hard to describe without making it sound like new-age bullshit. What you want to do is to induce a sort of deliberate schizophrenia, to separate out two parts of your brain: the part that feels depressed and wants to stop the pain, and the part that recognizes that you can't or won't do it because the depressed part is not really thinking straight. For some people, simply going this far is enough. Just recognizing that emotional pain is something that happens to you, just like physical pain, can sometimes be enough to get through it. If not, then you have to engage in some deliberate mental exercises to help your deliberative self gain enough control over your emotional self to keep from hurting too badly or doing yourself physical harm. The key is to recognize that being depressed and/or suicidal is not an indication of any kind of personal flaw or failure, any more than having a backache. It's just something that's gone wrong with your wiring.

All this assumes, of course, that you don't have some legitimate reason to feel depressed, in which case you need to figure out what that is and deal with it, or that you don't have some physiological problem that needs pharmaceutical help, in which case a doctor can help.

Good luck.

Post reply on HN