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Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
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Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#2Binge drinking on the weekends... /s
But actually, sometimes. I am really not online much ever, I spend enough time in front of screens so I sign off, all the way. Don't even bring my phone 9 out of 10 times.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#3Mostly trying to relate with people on HN. Hit me up on Keybase if anyone wants to chat (username sillysaurus). Just had an enjoyable one with a longtime member.
Keybase feels like the chat program HN never had.
Why is it good for mental health? Well, it's easy to get isolated. Sometimes the data you're receiving paints a very different picture to you than it does to someone else.
It's probably an unpopular view that mental health is improved by adding more internet, not less.
I'd tend to agree, if only there were non-internet activities to go to. Church is out. No school. I'm sure there are hackerspaces somewhere near by, but those have to be planned. I can't just go there at 2am, which is what I feel like right now.
People who say it's good to disconnect are kind of like wealthy people telling the poor to just have money. Yeah, it would be nice, but programming and conversations are two fulfilling activities.
Especially from people I don't know. Hi! Talk to me, if you want. If you need anyone to listen or to let you unload on them, use me as an outlet. I won't mind. And I don't care if it's random bullshit or things that seem like bullshit. I won't judge you, only listen to you and talk it over. And I'll keep your secrets.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#4Exercise (yes it helps), eat right, sleep 8 hours, have fun, be kind, meditate, create.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#5Travel
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#6See friends, exercise, and if the issue is serious enough, do not put off seeing a psychiatrist or another health professional.
Strangely enough you do not see an Ask HN: what are you doing for your T1 diabetes ? -- people will just see their doctor and inject insulin. Yet we do not treat mental health that way.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#7No twitter. No more FOSS on github. Lots of exercise.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#8See friends, exercise, and if the issue is serious enough, do not put off seeing a psychiatrist or another health professional. Strangely enough you do not see an Ask HN: what are you doing for your T1 diabetes ? -- people will just see their doctor and inject insulin. Yet we do not treat mental health that way.
>Strangely enough you do not see an Ask HN: what are you doing for your T1 diabetes ?
Meh. The question is more akin to 'What are you doing for your general health and fitness?'
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#9Connect to IRCs, chat with folks on random channels
Sadly my work blocks all irc servers.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#10See friends, exercise, and if the issue is serious enough, do not put off seeing a psychiatrist or another health professional. Strangely enough you do not see an Ask HN: what are you doing for your T1 diabetes ? -- people will just see their doctor and inject insulin. Yet we do not treat mental health that way.
I think it's a very good thing that we don't treat mental health that way because, generally speaking, we're nowhere near understanding mental health issues the way we understand diabetes (although I wouldn't be surprised if we don't understand that one as well as I'm inclined to think).
A better analogy would be something like 'Ask HN: what are you doing for your front-end javascript needs', which of course is discussed a lot, maybe even too much.
To be clear, I do agree that if you have serious issues it would be good to see a professional. But it's not a panacea and so it's quite possible, likely even, that a lot of people asking questions like OP are asking specifically because a professional has not been able to cleanly solve the problem, if at all. In fact, I've met plenty of people who felt they were worse off after getting help.
Again, I'd still recommend you try if you're struggling, but it's important to not see a mental health professional as 'the' solution, because on top of quite possibly turning out to be a disappointing experience, it might keep you from trying other stuff alongside it.