Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 227 posts

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#111

Post by ravenstine »

prionassembly wrote: post #13
colordrops wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Election? News that covid can cause neurological deficits in 20% of infected + increased rates of infection?

Selection bias.

That statistic, though I'm still skeptical of it, doesn't really surprise me that much. At least 20% of the people I know are very neurotic, and I could picture them traumatizing themselves over the possibility that they might die from COVID. I know several people who are deathly afraid of the disease, and a few whom are hypochondriacs to begin with and haven't left their homes in the last 8 months. I would bet good money that, if they became infected, they would give themselves permanent mental scars over it.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#112

Post by ineedasername »

trabant00 wrote: post #95

Another perspective from somebody who used to answer yes for some years: thinking about your health too much is a thing. Try to live as healthy as you can: unprocessed food, drink mostly water, avoid stimulants, exercise, regular sleep, limit screen time, etc. But don't obsess over any of it. Thinking about it, analyzing every sleepless night, bad feeling and chest pain is not healthy at all. I've been there and know…

don't obsess over any of it. Thinking about it, analyzing every sleepless night, bad feeling and chest pain is not healthy at all

On sleep, exercise, etc., you are absolutely right. And I see what you're getting at with your general comment, but I this part I highlighted implies that a depressed person may have a degree of control over their mental state & ruminations that many people experiencing hardship do not have. For those people, it may, to some extent, be possible to develop coping mechanisms to get there, but if a person lacks strong coping mechanisms then developing them is often sped up significantly through some form of treatment.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#113

Post by dinglefairy »

young_unixer wrote: post #8

I've never felt like life has no joy in it, I'm highly motivated to achieve my goals and I think they're worthwhile goals. The thing is, I think I won't achieve those goals, and that makes me anxious, not medically anxious, but there's this constant felling of dread. So, I wouldn't say I'm depressed, but I have this constant dread that accompanies me everyday.

are you enjoying working towards your goals? they're mostly right when they say it's the journey not the destination. goals are good when they're a part of the journey. as a means to an end... that's what they are. the end.

trust me young person, I've been on disability for depression for the last ten years! it's all been a purgatorius bad dream. align your goals with the work you love and tell yourself it's ok if you don't meet your goals.

I've reached many of my goals. for instance; flying an airplane. but i never was a fighter pilot like i wanted to be.

we are all a set of experiences. unique in this regard. that's the beauty of it all. so don't be less in by the prestige [see my recent posts on prestige ;]

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#114

Post by joe_the_user »

Firerouge wrote: post #72
dang wrote: post #58

Now there are two depression threads on the front page. We usually don't allow that (I mean same-topic frontpage threads, not depression threads). Normally the easy answer would be to downweight the follow-up [1], but this post is nicely reminding the community that HN polls are a thing. So I don't know what to do! I'm tempted to put up a poll asking whether to keep the poll or the original thread, but I have to go o…

This poll isn't particularly well formed, particularly it lacks an option for chronic depressive symptoms, every day. It seems likely the options are lacking in the lower end of the spectrum as well, there's a big jump between not at all and several days worth of symptoms

Well, it seems better the original "depressed" or "not depressed".

At the same time, perhaps multiple polls phrased only slightly differently but yielding significantly different results is a lesson in the overall problematics of polls, surveys and questionnaires.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#115

Post by ineedasername »

winocm wrote: post #65

Yes. Treatment resistant depression for about... 5 years or so, with it getting so bad recently (in this year) that I've just about given up on life.

Assuming you've tried the medication route, there's one that not too many psychiatrists are aware of for its off-label depression use, specifically for treatment-resistant depression: Modafinil.

Don't let a cursory search warn you off, it is not a traditional stimulant, and not considered addictive. It can also be an excellent second-line treatment for depression. It's what keeps me functional during periods where depression bleeds through my normal treatment plan. Check out this article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16035049/

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#116

Post by ineedasername »

danieltillett wrote: post #76

Wow what happened to all the normal people? I am not depressed and never have been depressed. Life has never been easier or safer for most people and we have a poll result where 2/3rd of people are claiming to be clinically depressed?

That is nice for you. I hope you never have to experience something so awful, which can effect someone without their control no matter how much their current circumstances might seem positive.

On "easier & safer", I'm not sure the metric you'd use for safer. As for easier, millions of people have lost their jobs, millions more have their lives in upheaval as they are left to figure out difficult tradeoffs while watching their children descend into loneliness & poorer quality education through the massive disruptions in their lives.

I am glad that you and, apparently, your social circles are going through a particularly good time at the moment. It's heartening to know that not everyone is losing out in the current circumstances.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#117

Post by glangdale »

vegadw wrote: post #62

I just went though what might be covid. I'm 22 and have a prior heart condition, and all week I felt like someoned had taken a baseball bat to my chest and was very tired. What was I doing during this time? Dealing with crammed in homework for 4 high level engineering classes that didn't keep up with the shortened length of this semester well. I think not experiencing dread and depressive symptoms in my situation wou…

Depressive symptoms are apparently quite common post-COVID, so this might be contributing further to what is objectively an already terribly stressful situation.

Do reach out to any reliable support you feel you can get to. A lot of university counsellors are apparently not that great, but if you've got a network to help you, use it. Dealing with the pressure of university work plus external stuff can put anyone into a really bad place (speaking from personal experience and the experience of a number of other people I knew from ugrad and grad school).

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#118

Post by danieltillett »

friendlybus wrote: post #108
danieltillett wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millions of people die from diseases like malaria and HIV every year. Wallowing around in self pity because of COVID-19 is not going to change a thing. Life has been getting better every year I have been alive. Billions of people have been moved out of extreme poverty and the average person lives a easier and safer life than almost anyone in history - I would rather be a poor man today than a king of the past.

Ah I thought it was the Steven Pinker pattern. I don't see it as self-pity, or pity at all. The world is a dark place and our children are the bright lights of the future. It's the older generation that enjoyed the bright life and the millennial/z-gen is dealing with the world for what it is. This is the cold, severe reality of the day. I can't hand-wave away facts of my community for the tail end of the industrial r…

There was no golden age of the past and the future is what we make it. We can sit around thinking everything is going to shit, or we can get on with making things better. I prefer the later.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#119

Post by ineedasername »

danieltillett wrote: post #96
friendlybus wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With respect, which planet do you live on where a pandemic that is killing millions and putting millions more out of work, confining people globally to their houses and murdering some large swathes of the economy for an invisible disease is the same as an 'easier & safer life for most people'. The K-shaped recovery is a real bubble, don't get caught in either side, they're both blind.

Millions of people die from diseases like malaria and HIV every year. Wallowing around in self pity because of COVID-19 is not going to change a thing. Life has been getting better every year I have been alive. Billions of people have been moved out of extreme poverty and the average person lives a easier and safer life than almost anyone in history - I would rather be a poor man today than a king of the past.

Your comparison to other diseases might be apt if the current pandemic & resulting fallout were replacing one of those other problems. Instead, it is in addition to them. Comparing them as you have done is akin to looking at a horse loaded down with 400lbs of weight on it. Then another 100lbs of weight is added, and the horse whinnies in complaint. And you're saying "Why is the horse complaining? It already had 400 lbs of weight. 100 lbs is less than that, so it shouldn't be an issue."

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#120

Post by throwaway1723 »

danielvaughn wrote: post #22

I don't felt the need to see a doctor about what I'm experiencing, so I'm not sure if what I have qualifies as depression. But over the past several months, it feels like my entire personality and being is a rug that has been pulled out from underneath me. I'm no longer the driven and interested person that I used to be. I struggle to sit down and work - my brain feels scattered and no matter how much I sleep and res…

It's not depression, it's the society tumbling down the hill straight to hell, my friend, and your subconscious understanding of that fact.
Post reply on HN