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I built an app to fix my depression

blog.elifiner.com

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Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#131

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

NalNezumi wrote: post #55

Read the blog post and also the other blog post in the page ( "Why discipline isn’t the answer to procrastination", "How to stick to good habits without being hard on yourself", "How fear of shame causes procrastination", "How fear of success causes procrastination"). I get the feeling that the author is in a situation a lot of people in HN could relate to: A situation where Performance Anxiety, Fear of missing out (…

How do you feel that your negative mental state is improving your performance?

I had every problem you describe, and it leads to horrible procrastination. I don't think I would be employable at all without my anti-anxiety medication.

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#132

Post by dang »

an_ko wrote: post #89
Jaruzel wrote: post #61

To everyone berating this guy about 'not being very depressed': My depression is not your depression, and your depression is not theirs. Please stop judging.

To everyone but them, this comment is noise. Please reply to their comments, not at top-level.

It's the contrarian dynamic: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

(Your comment is arguably the third wave and mine the fourth...)

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#133

Post by zoozla »

NalNezumi wrote: post #109
teekert wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think, as op also insinuates, it is all about acceptance. Accepting one's shortcomings, accepting that you can't do everything you want(ed), that you wont become what you always dreamed of. Love yourself despite of what you think of as shortcomings, think of the things you did achieve (and the things you have, like a stoic philosopher). You are a pretty incredible being with pretty incredible skills. If only you ac…

It surely is acceptance, but how do you convince yourself of it? How do you convince a young college student, a just-out-of college late 20's (me), a about-to-hit-midlife late 30's/40's person that is struggling to reach the expectation they have put? Tell a college kid to lower his expectation and he will feel like a "unmotivated" person, tell a 30's/40's that and he will feel like a failure, all his struggle for no…

Acceptance is a bit of a misleading term. We can't directly accept anything, especially if we're trying to force it, because we'll be fighting against not being able to accept the fact that we aren't accepting our circumstances. It's quite recursive.

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#134

Post by zoozla »

asiachick wrote: post #130
NalNezumi wrote: post #55

Read the blog post and also the other blog post in the page ( "Why discipline isn’t the answer to procrastination", "How to stick to good habits without being hard on yourself", "How fear of shame causes procrastination", "How fear of success causes procrastination"). I get the feeling that the author is in a situation a lot of people in HN could relate to: A situation where Performance Anxiety, Fear of missing out (…

I clicked through to one of those articles where it soon brings up "Ego Depletion" which AFAIK has been debunked.

It was debunked and reaffirmed within a narrower context and in general is a pretty controversial concept. Many people however have the personal experience of a limit to their willpower and that's what I'm referring to in the article. I'll actually edit it to remove the reference to Ego Depletion, thanks for poking me.

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#135

Post by a123b456c »

NalNezumi wrote: post #55

Read the blog post and also the other blog post in the page ( "Why discipline isn’t the answer to procrastination", "How to stick to good habits without being hard on yourself", "How fear of shame causes procrastination", "How fear of success causes procrastination"). I get the feeling that the author is in a situation a lot of people in HN could relate to: A situation where Performance Anxiety, Fear of missing out (…

For me, the first step was to consciously select meaningful values. That helped me to know what I should do and what I should not do.

The second step was weekly self-assessments regarding how well my actions matched my values.

It didn't take long to meaningfully and permanently improve my unconscious behaviors.

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#136

Post by zoozla »

dawg- wrote: post #104

So many mental health apps these days with so little high quality evidence of their effectiveness. And there are so many of these apps out there, why would someone build their own? Maybe OP is onto something though. Could it be that the creative process and challenge of building an app to solve a personal problem is just as good a treatment for depression as the app itself?

It's part of it, but I only built the app after realizing the method (which is based on something called The Sedona Method) really worked for me. I just found it super tedious to do on paper and over time added more features that help to get into a mental state where emotional release is possible.

I'm now building a business around the app and that path has multiple emotional pitfalls per day. I tried to do this a few times before and always succumbed to my fear, guilt and worthlessnes.

This time, I'm using the app on a daily basis and snap out of my funk (usually) in a matter of minutes.

So I'd say the app is helping me feel better which is allowing me to keep building it - not the other way around.

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#137

Post by dang »

phre4k wrote: post #48

Your depression couldn't have been that bad if you could create an app against it. Regular therapy would probably have been more effective and less dangerous for others.

"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#138

Post by zoozla »

phobosanomaly wrote: post #129
dawg- wrote: post #104

So many mental health apps these days with so little high quality evidence of their effectiveness. And there are so many of these apps out there, why would someone build their own? Maybe OP is onto something though. Could it be that the creative process and challenge of building an app to solve a personal problem is just as good a treatment for depression as the app itself?

So many are just trying to sell you something. It's like if you went to visit your Psychiatrist and they tried to sell you a time-share on your way out of the office. People deserve to be compensated for their work, obviously, but this is a space where people are looking to escape from being sold something or manipulated in some way. If someone is building the app for themselves, it's based around actually helping an…

This is a really powerful comment. I am trying to create a sustainable income from this app so I can keep on doing what I love, and every marketing guru on the planet is trying to push me into charging as much as possible as early as possible. I have an intuitive resistance to that, but you put it in way better words than I could have.

I'm not sure how to fix this and still make a living out of it yet, but I'm going to keep looking.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#139

Post by zoozla »

cabaalis wrote: post #116
jointpdf wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality metrics surrounding depression? Can you elaborate? Also, are you the right person to complain to about the quality of my depression? It is quite poor and I would like get a refund.

"Quality metrics" is an industry term regarding hitting certain benchmarks of care in a provider's patient population to measure "quality" of care by a provider or group. Payers measure providers for various reasons using well-defined protocols. An example of a depression protocol is depression remission: (1) Was an index test performed in prior year to identify depression (2) Was a followup performed this year (3) D…

The only thing I can currently measure in the app is the intensity of an emotional experience - before the process and after the process. I'm still compiling the stats, but I think the average reduction in intensity of the experience of e.g. apathy is about 40%.

I really like the idea of incorporating a standard depression symptoms test into the app and then taking another test at a later stage to see the longer term change. It still won't be conclusive proof, but it would help.

Re: I built an app to fix my depression

#140

Post by zoozla »

dawg- wrote: post #114
cabaalis wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of my job is analyzing quality metrics surrounding depression. Everyone is failing, and uncontrolled depression is an unseen pandemic. We are in rapid innovation phase.

I am frustrated that we feel the need to keep "innovating" when we already know how to fix depression. In no particular order: Physical activity, social participation, getting enough sunlight, and creative outlets. The problem is those things are hard. And downloading an app on your phone is easy. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?) it is still true that you reap what you sow. I'm afraid all this "innovation" aro…

You are absolutely right that these things are the true solution to not have depression. However, they don't really work when you are already in it though. It's like telling a drowning man to start practicing his strokes or someone falling out of a plane to invent a parachute.

Depression is a self sustaining problem. The depression prevents you from seeking social activities, taking care of your body and mind and being creative, This obviously makes the depression worse. Paradoxically, forcing yourself to do any of these activities makes the depression worse as well due to the internal resistance to get better.

We definitely do need innovation. We need something that works, is scalable, doesn't cost $1k per month in therapy fees and doesn't have any adverse side effects.

My current best guess about the future in this space is a combination of microdosing and supportive apps like mine.

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