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Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

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Re: Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

#101

Post by KevBurnsJr »

Alex3917 wrote: post #95
natrius wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WARNING: According to the Wikipedia article, this concoction contains monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Pretty much every commercial I've seen for an antidepressant says to be talk to your doctor if you're on any MAO inhibitors. Don't mess with this stuff if you're taking an antidepressant without doing further research.

Despite the fact that the parent comment is getting downvoted into oblivion, it's not completely off base. Dennis McKenna did some preliminary research which suggested that when done in a religious setting, long-term use of low-dosage ayahuasca may increase the density of serotonin receptors. And anecdotally there are stories about former meth addicts going down to South America and coming back all serene and mellow.…

> there are stories about former meth addicts going down to South America and coming back all serene and mellow.

I've met at least a dozen. Coke, meth, pills, booze, herb, cutting, you name it.

Re: Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

#103

Post by KevBurnsJr »

lionhearted wrote: post #71
3eye wrote: post #47

Try Ayahuasca. Its legal 100%, you can get components on ebay.com. Motivation guaranteed. Watch The Blueprint by Real Social Dynamics - how to get girls. Listen to some good trance music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkITM2UIYoU Read Tim Ferris book "Four Hour Work Week"

> Listen to some good trance music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkITM2UIYoU Gosh, I want to like trance music, I really do. I like all of the most similar kinds of electronic music, but trance was always too spacey for me. Like, the link you posted - that seems like legitimately pretty good trance. It's got some interesting elements in it. But I still can't put in more than a few minutes with it. Any thoughts? I k…

If you really want to get out of your head, turn off the lights and crank up the Shpongle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qt2WbfotkU

Re: Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

#104

Post by ErrantX »

rphlx wrote: post #46

Mid 20s extroverts appear to punt these kinds of concerns by drinking and sleeping around shamelessly. I'm still investigating if that really works.

Meh. It doesn't work so well, you realise they are just constantly on the game to avoid the same problems.

Eventually it got boring too; I figured out that there was actually no real challenge in it.

However, short term it might be useful. It helped me grow - but I wouldn't say it is sustainable long term.

Re: Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

#105

Post by KevBurnsJr »

floodfx wrote: post #6

Try living in the present and not stressing out about the future or past... I recommend you read (or better yet listen to the audio book version) Ekhart Tolle's "The Power of Now". From the Amazon description: "the author describes his transition from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday."

I also highly recommend this book.

You can get it in audio format.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LYTNR4

Re: Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

#106

Post by niels_olson »

Lots of good comments. Some consistent themes:

1) physical labor (gardening, kitesurfing, etc): provides endorphins you're not going to get from a desk, and Vitamin D from the sunshine. Both are needed for a stable mood.

2) Socialization (mass, relationships, travel): plus-minus. Without some retooling of your thought patterns, more talking with the same people isn't necessarily going to help. Regarding travel, I wonder if there is an element of physical labor and sunshine in that as well.

3) therapy: the standard for depression is cognitive-behavioral therapy, which has two main components: a) identifying problems and making concrete progress on resolving them b) re-tooling your automatic thoughts: "If A then B". Andy Thompson, a U of Virginia psychiatrist has a very provocative theory making the rounds, which I'm somewhat partial too: the analytic rumination hypothesis. Fits in well with the effectiveness of the first part of CBT. (http://andersonthomson.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Andrew...)

4) meds: he SSRIs appear to be not so helpful for mild-to-moderate depression (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/303/1/47). Different story for major depression. If you don't remember 8 months of your life, then Prozac may well be for you. Regarding Omega-3 fatty acids: yeah, they raise your HDL a little bit, and maybe they're ok for maintaining optimal complex fats for the nervous system (myelin, etc), but few Americans have any problem with adequate fat intake :-)

Finally, I'm starting to wonder if depressive tendencies are a recurring theme in the HN population in particular. Certainly negative thinkers are well positioned to identify new problems early and work on fixing them. How would one test this hypothesis?

Re: Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

#107

Post by gsk »

A friend of mine who may identify with your situation recently quit his job and has gone to volunteer full-time to help recreate a forest in the Pondicherry, India (Sadhana forest). Cliché but absolutely true: The world is a big and exciting place. Look out to immerse yourself in something completely new. Don't worry too much about the choices. Pick the first sensible choice (use stochastic efficiency).

Re: Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)

#109

Post by confoocious »

I can totally relate to what you're saying.

My story: I found some professional success (atleast monetarily so) early and in parallel through college-life. I thought there wouldn't be much to the transition to pursue a bigger goal post-academics.

Seems like I was totally wrong. Ever since, I've been facing a huge motivational crisis, total mismanagement of time, Unkept promises in my professional as well as personal circles and most of all, to myself.

Currently, I still stand potential with whatever I thought was my biggest chance to make it big in life professionally. However, the only thing that can seem to provide me any kind of respite / mental peace is slacking off on junkie travel-getaways.

Personal-life has hit new lows. Complicated-relationships turned irredeemable. Finally, there seems to be a self-imposed lethargia to any kind of social life (when not travelling); Life, monotonously so has boiled down to some work -- 8 hours a day, and IRC (with other minor randomities) the rest of the time.

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