Ask HN: What are the best hacks to fight depression?

My point is that there may not be an obvious hack for complicated issues like depression.

I don’t have absolute faith in professionals; Don’t know what gave you that idea. I’m saying they’re better than the alternatives, and that expertise is worth something.

I agree with some of your criticisms of the status quo, but it seems to me like you’re conflating your own views of society with an objective view that serves as a legitimate basis for a depressive reaction/sadness.

As for your claims regarding endogenous depression: I don’t know what you base them on. I’ve seen nothing to support this position, at least.

There might be psychologically unhealthy sides to modern society, but what you and others present as alternatives is, in my opinion, glorified guesswork - as opposed to a somewhat systematic search for knowledge (flawed as it is).

Change things up.

In my experience, being depressed takes less effort than not being depressed.

I live in a small city and I would spend most of my days working then going home to play games and watch Netflix while slowly becoming a hoarder living in garbage.

Then I started walking everywhere, to coffee shops, to music venues, etc. Every place that I walked to was an excuse to get out of the house and be active. Whenever I had those walks, I had time for a lot of self reflection and exposure to meaningful experiences and people that I would have never had if I stayed inside bingeing on Netflix. I still get bummed out at times, but I don't daydream about suicide anymore.

Cut off Facebook and alike. Excercise and take sleep pill. Find a hobby.

People with DSPD can't have "regular" sleep cycles, it's thought to be a genetic disorder where their cycle is offset a few hours from a regular sleep cycle.

Couple that with society's 9-5 work schedule, you're in for a rough time unless you can find an employer who will accommodate.

That is better than nothing; really you should have a relationship with your PCP, I think I did have a 15 minute exam when I got an SSRI prescription, but I had seen that doc for three years and had talked about SSRIs for a while. I chose to take them because I know my life was about to get turned upside down and wanted to be proactive about dealing with it.

The main SSRI counterindication is that people with psychosis, bipolar, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder are likely to get worse (manic) with SSRI treatment. A GP can screen for this and be right most of the time.

Unfortunately this is a disease like Diabetes that gets progressively worse, treatment with antipsychotic drugs might slow this. Psychotics tend to hate antipsychotic drugs and putting that together with it being almost impossible to force people take them many people don't get treated. They shouldn't get a script from a GP, they should see a psychiatrist.

The key to SSRI success is not the length of the first appointment, but the followup. You should have at least one and maybe several followup appointments to adjust dosage, medication, also consider a psych referral.