Don't self-medicate. Not with pills, not with CBD, not with weed, not with anything.
Talk to a mental health professional.
Take care of yourself.
Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
61–70 of 115 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#621. Listen to Van Halen 2. Regular Positive Affirmation aka Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 3. Exercise / Sports 4. Practice Stoicism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwYN7mTi6HM
It's hard to be depressed when you are doubled over with laughter?
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#63The most important thing to know about depression is that it is an illness. It has no moral dimension. Get treatment. People telling you to buck up and get hold of yourself are much, much worse than useless. The second most important thing to know is that "depression" is a label for at least a half-dozen, probably more, unrelated illnesses. What helps with one does nothing for another. The third is that no matter wha…
I hear the "depression is an illness" trope repeated over and over but I still fail to understand what it means.
I'm sure for some definition of the word illness it's true. But it's certainly not an illness in the way a cold or malaria or shingles or cystic fibrosis are illnesses. Those things can be objectively diagnosed. They entail physical measurable changes to a person's body.
Depression is a set of guidelines in a book that ask vague subjective questions about how someone perceives the world. And then if the person decides you have it you have it. If they don't you dont. This has very little to do with the first scenario.
I'm not trying to trivialize depression. I think it is very real and very serious. But I think the "illness" rehtoric is at best innacurate and at worst seriously misleading and distracting to people who have serious issues to deal with.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#64This is for those saying depression is not an illness.
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/november9/videos/653.htm...
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#65The most important thing to know about depression is that it is an illness. It has no moral dimension. Get treatment. People telling you to buck up and get hold of yourself are much, much worse than useless. The second most important thing to know is that "depression" is a label for at least a half-dozen, probably more, unrelated illnesses. What helps with one does nothing for another. The third is that no matter wha…
I hear the "depression is an illness" trope repeated over and over but I still fail to understand what it means. I'm sure for some definition of the word illness it's true. But it's certainly not an illness in the way a cold or malaria or shingles or cystic fibrosis are illnesses. Those things can be objectively diagnosed. They entail physical measurable changes to a person's body. Depression is a set of guidelines i…
Just because you can't measure something doesn't mean it's not there. Perhaps we don't have the tools or knowledge yet to measure depression, like countless other human ailments of the past that are now treatable.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#66The most important thing to know about depression is that it is an illness. It has no moral dimension. Get treatment. People telling you to buck up and get hold of yourself are much, much worse than useless. The second most important thing to know is that "depression" is a label for at least a half-dozen, probably more, unrelated illnesses. What helps with one does nothing for another. The third is that no matter wha…
I hear the "depression is an illness" trope repeated over and over but I still fail to understand what it means. I'm sure for some definition of the word illness it's true. But it's certainly not an illness in the way a cold or malaria or shingles or cystic fibrosis are illnesses. Those things can be objectively diagnosed. They entail physical measurable changes to a person's body. Depression is a set of guidelines i…
Once all fevers were "ague". Now we have flu (dozens of strains), malaria, encephalitis, toxemia, etc., with a different treatment for each.
Depression is still at the "ague" stage. For certain varieties, certain medications completely resolve them. For some, a treatment hasn't been identified. Approval of treatments is crippled by lack of diagnostic tools, so to test one, it has to be used on people who have all kinds, and then it only helps the small minority of them who have what it's good for. Statistically, one that works 100% for the actual illness it treats looks like it helps only 10-15% of the sample.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#67This is for those saying depression is not an illness. https://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/november9/videos/653.htm...
Robert Sapolsky wrote the most astonishing book I ever read. It had a dumb title, something about zebras, but it was a tour of endocrinology. Endocrinologists have thd hardest problem in all biology.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#68The most important thing to know about depression is that it is an illness. It has no moral dimension. Get treatment. People telling you to buck up and get hold of yourself are much, much worse than useless. The second most important thing to know is that "depression" is a label for at least a half-dozen, probably more, unrelated illnesses. What helps with one does nothing for another. The third is that no matter wha…
I hear the "depression is an illness" trope repeated over and over but I still fail to understand what it means. I'm sure for some definition of the word illness it's true. But it's certainly not an illness in the way a cold or malaria or shingles or cystic fibrosis are illnesses. Those things can be objectively diagnosed. They entail physical measurable changes to a person's body. Depression is a set of guidelines i…
There are different types of depression. It can be an illness caused by some brain imbalance, or it can be a normal human reaction to things being a bit depressing. For the first maybe seek medical help and for the second maybe try to improve your situation eg. go somewhere sunny, get a better job, make more friends etc. Also things like gratitude journals, DIY CBT and so on can help with the second. It the US there seems a tendency to overmedicalize and put people on antidepressant pills for life although they have no more effect than taking up exercise for example.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#69The most important thing to know about depression is that it is an illness. It has no moral dimension. Get treatment. People telling you to buck up and get hold of yourself are much, much worse than useless. The second most important thing to know is that "depression" is a label for at least a half-dozen, probably more, unrelated illnesses. What helps with one does nothing for another. The third is that no matter wha…
I hear the "depression is an illness" trope repeated over and over but I still fail to understand what it means. I'm sure for some definition of the word illness it's true. But it's certainly not an illness in the way a cold or malaria or shingles or cystic fibrosis are illnesses. Those things can be objectively diagnosed. They entail physical measurable changes to a person's body. Depression is a set of guidelines i…
this is equally true of, say, schizophrenia — there’s no physical test for it as far as I know, just questionnaires about how someone perceives the world.
but i don’t think anyone would argue it’s not a biological disease at this point, even if we don’t yet know what biological parameters to measure.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with depression?
#70I have a portfolio of things that I’ve found work for me. Provided I do any 2 each day, I’m in good shape.
- Regular long distance runs (5-10miles), - morning pages, - meditation, - zinc, magnesium, fish oil, - professional help.