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I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

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Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#91

Post by brazzledazzle »

toast_coder wrote: post #71
slg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have the luxury of operating at much higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs than generations past. I would much rather worry about whether my life truly matters than worry about whether my life will immediately come to an end if I can't kill or grow enough food. Depression was probably always an issue, today we just have the privilege of it being the most pressing problem for many of us.

> I would much rather worry about whether my life truly matters than worry about whether my life will immediately come to an end if I can't kill or grow enough food. I cant help but think negotiating those situtations is exaclty what the human needs to avoid depression. Maybe you chances of dying young are much higher, like 30% vs 1%. But die young or die old, those humans really lived.

You can still really live. You don’t need society to change to allow you to live a life of subsistence. But don’t forget those people suffered dearly. Infant mortality, disease, crippling injuries, etc. They would have killed for your luxuries. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#92

Post by petermcneeley »

gascan wrote: post #89
petermcneeley wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps my tastes are too low but for food there is nothing better than cooked meat of which the kings had in abundance. Netflix is a (virtual) substitution for real drama, real romance , and real violence. If your gonna count the netflix you might as well just say The Matrix is material utopia.

OK, but you can eat fresh corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef, chicken, bison, venison, kangaroo, turkey, tuna, salmon, halibut, duck, swordfish, pork, lamb, sheep, eel, clam, oyster, mussel, lobster, crab, ... shall I go on?

I myself have a pretty basic palate but the kings did enjoy quite a variety of foods. http://www.picturebritain.com/2012/11/whatdidhenryVIIIeat.ht...

Either way the point is that Materially the kings were exceedingly wealthy and if you just translate what they had to today they still remain so.

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#93

Post by jackweirdy »

Fricken wrote: post #46
slg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have the luxury of operating at much higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs than generations past. I would much rather worry about whether my life truly matters than worry about whether my life will immediately come to an end if I can't kill or grow enough food. Depression was probably always an issue, today we just have the privilege of it being the most pressing problem for many of us.

Many of the most memorable, meaningful, and exhilarating experiences in my life are derived from times that were desperate, physically gruelling and dangerous. I think it's what we're designed for. A ship is safe in harbour but that's not what ships are for. The periods of depression in my life were quite safe and comfortable, and strongly associated with wondering if my life really matters, and you can't think about…

> A ship is safe in harbour but that's not what ships are for.

What a powerful little phrase I’d never heard before. Thanks for sharing this!

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#94

Post by omgoodness7 »

I love HN, but of course there’s a but...how narcissistic of most of you. It’s the annoying person at the bar, not listening, or contributing, just looking for an opportunity to say “Look at me! I’m awesome! Do this and you can be awesome too!” Jeez man. Y’all is vapid.

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#95

Post by kqr2 »

ASalazarMX wrote: post #55
comboy wrote: post #2

So what do you guys think: hunter-gatherers, then feudal farmers and then now - how does median/average suffering per capita compare? We all have better luxuries now than kings had hundreds of years ago. Less famine, life threatening situations and so on. But we do have a way to compare ourselves with best parts of lives of many interesting people around the world. We have antibiotics and painkillers, but we also see…

There is a cartoon where a scientist travels to the future and finds the world has become an utopia. A friendly host shows the scientist the wonders of his world, and then says something like "no one is poor or hungry anymore, we have everything to cover everyone's needs, even a beautiful house for each". The scientists asks "Why not two houses?". The end panel is the scientist getting back into his machine while a n…

Do you have a link or name of the cartoon?

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#96

Post by dominotw »

ken wrote: post #52

> It’s just an illness. I mean, it’s right there in the name “Mental ILLNESS” so it shouldn’t have been the revelation that it was I think this is actually a big part of the problem. In most other contexts we encounter, stuffing an adjective in there means "NOT". Soy milk? Not real milk. Computer science? Don't see anyone using the scientific method. I'm absolutely certain that mental illness is real, and deserves re…

> Is there a better word for mental illness, which stands on its own?

Edited out offensive comment

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#97

Post by mc32 »

xanthopan wrote: post #85
dragonwriter wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In most other contexts we encounter, stuffing an adjective in there means "NOT". No, in most contexts in English, modifying a noun with an adjective doesn't invert the meaning of the noun. A “respiratory infection” is a real infection. A “premeditated homicide” is a real homicide. Or, from your post: A “big part” is a real part. A “better word” is a real word. The “scientific method” is a real method. “Real study”…

> In most other contexts we encounter, stuffing an adjective in there means "NOT". I think that's less a comment on grammar and more about how there's a tendency to name stuff that is similar to other stuff, yet markedly different, in oxymoronic ways. For example: "virtual reality", "business ethics", "educational television", "military intelligence", "magic realism"

To me, none of those on their own, without context are oxymoronic. Yes, their meaning is often stretched without that being realized by the speaker, but at the same time they have a useful baseline meaning.

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#98

Post by SubuSS »

manfredo wrote: post #36
comboy wrote: post #2

So what do you guys think: hunter-gatherers, then feudal farmers and then now - how does median/average suffering per capita compare? We all have better luxuries now than kings had hundreds of years ago. Less famine, life threatening situations and so on. But we do have a way to compare ourselves with best parts of lives of many interesting people around the world. We have antibiotics and painkillers, but we also see…

This is just my personal perspective for the most part, but I think a lot of the anxiety I feel stems from innate, primal survival instincts that have no real need anymore in my life position. For instance even though I could support myself and probably a small family on my current compensation, but I still feel the urge to get a raise. I still worry about my motorcycle getting stolen off the street even though it's…

I would contest the conflation of financial security with loss aversion / primal urges:

- Loss aversion for me for physical goods is today defined by value of the item relative to my income. I probably won't fret over losing a water bottle or tearing a t-shirt, but losing my house is a real problem. 1 week salary worth for me is a ton of money since it has the potential to add up quickly - while I have gotten to a point where I have to lose way more water bottles than I got to get to a worry state. When I lost one of my bicycles - I was pissed but thankfully it didn't break it. I still followed up with cop reports etc. because it worried me about the garage safety. This doesn't tie into urges / financial security at lower levels.

- Financial security chase is innate - probably the closest to a primal urge. But I worry about calling it that because I don't know if having enough resources for the long term was a real concept. I can see how animals look at short term need addressal, I don't know if they really have a safety net mentality. That is a new one - but I may be splitting hairs. My theory is that it is a harkening to 'retirement' - something that's out of reach for more and more folks every day.

- primal urges for me are the base drives, the lower level of Mazlow's Hierarchy + progenies.

RE Anxiety's link to anyone of these: I am assuming that comes down to your current life situation + personal makeup.

Finally I always assumed folks talk about 'Medical depression' as a diagnosed scientifically + possibly treated mental issue. I wouldn't conflate that with Anxiety either. Anxiety might have you feeling down - but that isn't depression. The fact that we naturally tend to call feeling down as 'depressed' is probably one of the reasons depression doesn't get the attention it needs. (Again I don't understand depression myself thankfully, I am placing my trust in the doctors here).

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#99

Post by mchahn »

dominotw wrote: post #96
ken wrote: post #52

> It’s just an illness. I mean, it’s right there in the name “Mental ILLNESS” so it shouldn’t have been the revelation that it was I think this is actually a big part of the problem. In most other contexts we encounter, stuffing an adjective in there means "NOT". Soy milk? Not real milk. Computer science? Don't see anyone using the scientific method. I'm absolutely certain that mental illness is real, and deserves re…

> Is there a better word for mental illness, which stands on its own? Edited out offensive comment

As a person who suffers from mania I would argue that everyone "suffers from it" does not apply to mental illness.

Do you have 3 or 4 days in a row where you can't sleep? Do you send emails to everyone at three in the morning that are totally crazy (such as only a maniac would write)? Do you speak at company meetings and have one of your employees write "shut up" on a piece of paper and hold it so that only you can see it?

Your comment is offensive.

Re: I'm Wil Wheaton. I Live with Chronic Depression and Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed

#100

Post by maccam912 »

ken wrote: post #52

> It’s just an illness. I mean, it’s right there in the name “Mental ILLNESS” so it shouldn’t have been the revelation that it was I think this is actually a big part of the problem. In most other contexts we encounter, stuffing an adjective in there means "NOT". Soy milk? Not real milk. Computer science? Don't see anyone using the scientific method. I'm absolutely certain that mental illness is real, and deserves re…

I see people already picking apart what you said, but I see where you're coming from. If course lung cancer is not fake cancer, because it's treated at the same places as other types of cancer. We have hospitals for physical illness though, and you usually see mental illness treated at a separate place. The mental health therapists in my town work out of unremarkable buildings behind some restaurants, while the major hospital has a block to itself with flashy signs identifying what it is. I think that is that leads me to see the "illness" in "mental illness" with a different connotation.
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