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

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

#131

Post by ineedasername »

danieltillett wrote: post #124
ineedasername wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 watch…

I have certainly experienced many awful things in life, but I have not become depressed. Maybe I am just resilient, but I don’t think I am that unusual. It is interesting that the response to my post has been to vote it down to oblivion. I posted hoping to see if the 2/3rd clinical depressed number is just a self selecting aberration, or HN really has become this bad.

You may have a misconception of the causes of depression.

I am sorry awful things have happened to you in life, but fortunately, as your example shows, negative external stimuli are not a 1:1 correlation with depression. Unfortunately, positive circumstances are also not a 1:1 correlation with the lack of depression. While stress, trauma, tragedy, loss, adversity may all push some people into depression, there are plenty more who, for no discernible external cause, find themselves in irrational states of despair or other forms of depression, and it is no more solvable through self-motivated resilience than the hallucinations of a more tangible mental illness like schizophrenia could be solved through resilience. Perhaps a useful way of thinking about it if you don't quite understand depression ( though maybe not neurologically accurate ) is to also think of depression as a form of involuntary hallucination. Only instead of an auditory or visual hallucination, the brain is producing an emotional hallucination.

As for the downvotes, it's probably because the tone of your comment, perhaps unintentionally, comes off as skeptical & dismissive of the miserable reality that many people experience first hand.

Finally, & unrelated, it looks like you do some very fascinating work!

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

#132

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

suifbwish wrote: post #81
proverbialbunny wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So is that depression? Yep, but the cause in your case is unknown. For example, it could be work burnout causing it. It could be not going outside that is causing it. It could be not socializing that is causing it. It could be your diet. It could be ... If you can identify the cause you can find a solution. Unfortunately, the best most people have is a shotgun approach where they try a combination of solutions attem…

Great advice. I would add that another strategy that has been useful to many is that when you are feeling negative emotions stirring up uncontrollably, it’s important to remember they aren’t real. They are just feelings. At the end of the day all you have is your body, mind, health and wealth. However you feel about those things will change quite a bit throughout the average persons lifetime. What matters today might…

> ... it’s important to remember they aren’t real. They are just feelings.

what helps me get through the day is exactly this. we're just a sack of liquid chemical that constantly chances its structure. the feeling I experience within a time span of 30 minutes alone between waking up and having my first coffee, or in between forcing myself to put on my running gear and returning from a run, are changing everything. and if things can change in only a few minutes, how I perceive the world over a longer time can too.

some of this comes naturally with age when hormones change. it does have upsides when not everything and everyone is able to spoil my day.

these days I make sure I do not add things into my life as the first approach but to see what I can subtract in order to troubleshot my body and feelings. only after I can't take anything away any more do I see what I might need (and where others earn money on me and are motivated to push me into that direction. some examples that help me personally battle decades of depression:

- eat only half the amount or try intermittent fasting for a month

- cut the booze or weed (one day a week max less if I can)

- take daily walks/runs of at least 30 mins.

- start the morning with a cold shower (prepares me mentally that my day might not be smooth and certainly won't start comfortable)

- leave your phone at home when going out and see how that makes you feel. if you think this is nuts or makes you uncomfortable think about why the lack of an electronic device makes you feel this way.

- always shower right after returning from work (or finishing work). matter of habit for me since I didn't always have an office job. it allows me to unwind and "wash away" all the work stuff. reminds me that I am now at home and prep myself to have different thoughts (if you prefer a bath that's cool but in my case with kids/family I never had time to disappear into the bath the moment I got home. 10 mins shower was always possible). I find this really valuable in a WFH scenario. these days I run/exercise right after work so the shower is simply needed anyway

in case of burn-out:

- compartmentalize my work and private life as much as possible (time wise but if possible also location: in WFH this means work-laptop/phone remains in my home-office powered down as an extra hurdle to avoid me popping in at 23:00 to check up on an important thought ...).

- in case of burn-out: maybe my job is, but my private life isn't a hamster-wheel. cut the training-plan crap and goal setting to a minimum. it's OK to just go for a run and not worry about reaching the correct times set out in the training plan in prep for a marathon where I'm competing against thousands of others. it's OK to compete for fun but don't overdo it.

but everything what parent & GP said too.

About brain fog, mind-wandering etc: I have this since at least 2012. It came with my burn-out back then and a complete melt-down and dissolution of my personality. I feel like my head is wrapped in cotton or there is some barrier between me and my outside world. at the same time I have this I also gained the ability of sitting still without any desire or urge to push forward with anything if I want to. Might be an age thing but I'm now able to play with my own thoughts all day long and don't get stressed by the idea of not communicating with anyone. I still enjoy company and conversation but I also value being able to spend time simply sitting there and thinking (like a lunatic perhaps idk).

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

#134

Post by ineedasername »

proverbialbunny wrote: post #98
ineedasername wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are without a doubt some clear symptoms of depression. Two VERY VERY IMPORTANT THINGS: 1) A good first step is to see your GP, if you have one, and if you don't look up some reviews and find a decent one. If you're at the point where you lack the motivation to even do that, ask a friend or loved one to do it for you. If you don't have a resource like that around you, just click this link & put in your own zip c…

Just to geek out, a fun fact about why one often feels like depression will last forever is due to memory compartmentalization. To most anyone thoughts that pop up in our head come out of a black hole, an unknown. What's actually happening is we're seeing something in the present moment (thinking memories in the present moment too) and that thing we're seeing causes an emotional response, often an unconscious one. Th…

Thanks, that's a fascinating insight into the roots of that "forever" feeling.

As for manipulation & programming, I used to be an adjunct professor teaching a topic related to persuasion. I always had a few exercises where I'd show a slide with 10 related words for 10 seconds and ask the students, without writing them down, to remember as many as they could. Then I would go through a few, asking them to close their eyes, and I'd repeat a few words, asking them to raise their hands if they remembered one word, then another. Then I would ask them if they remembered an 11th related word, one that was not on the original list. Cognitive priming with the first 10 words usually produced a 50% response of students saying they remembered the word that wasn't even there. It would always get a good laugh. I hope it also left a lasting impression.

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

#135

Post by friendlybus »

danieltillett wrote: post #118
friendlybus wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The future is predetermined and you aren't thinking.

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

#136

Post by Zebfross »

fasteddie31003 wrote: post #129

I hate to be that guy but 2020 has been one of the best years of my life. My girlfriend and I moved out of our 600 sq/ft apt Oakland apartment for Colorado. We now have a good sized house with a large garage for wood working and my new found love of tig welding. It's honestly more walkable/bikable here than Oakland. My car is unlocked with things people could steal in it right now and I don't have anxiety about it.

Yeah, it feels selfish, but quarantine has been great for me and my wife’s personal lives. More time together and more time for improving ourselves.

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

#137

Post by friendlybus »

ineedasername wrote: post #126
friendlybus wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Any prior golden age you might care to look at was unevenly distributed. That was the case before the internet took hold in the 90's, during the rapid economic growth of the 50's, in the Renaissance, the heights of the Roman Empire... Yes, that does not mean we shouldn't look back on the things in the past that were good & now are not. But if a wholesale reversion to a past time was possible, we would still find the…

I'm not selling a golden age of wealth for all. I'm selling the right to direct your own life, commit to the good on your own terms and live a life of privacy. You know, freedom. There's more to life than money, we used to kill for these outcomes. The violence stopped not because we improved but because there was no more freedom to be had. Now we just end lives over economic contrivances. I'm a dinosaur, I see the meteor hitting in 2140 and so does bitcoin and many others. The only answer is ghe unknown and darkness. I don't sell out for power.

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

#138

Post by damnencryption »

danieltillett wrote: post #124
ineedasername wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 watch…

I have certainly experienced many awful things in life, but I have not become depressed. Maybe I am just resilient, but I don’t think I am that unusual. It is interesting that the response to my post has been to vote it down to oblivion. I posted hoping to see if the 2/3rd clinical depressed number is just a self selecting aberration, or HN really has become this bad.

A few members in my distant family died in the last few months. One of whom I was close with (grandparent) but it barely affected me negatively yet I had been forced into shell for months due to otherwise small things in the past. It's not the severity of the outcome. I recovered faster from those. I require medicine when that happens and the triggers are always small non obvious.

Please don't judge people based on the severity of their situation as to whether they are suffering or not. It doesn't help. It misleds bystanders reading your comment into a pit instead of seeking help.

As for the comparison to the world getting better, it's not linear and same for everyone. While on average, people are living better life than they did before. Life for people in some countries have gotten worse, not better. Maybe life for people which this forum self selects have gotten worse in the last few years.

Also see: https://ourworldindata.org/optimism-pessimism

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

#139

Post by wiml »

rriepe wrote: post #45
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…

This sounds more like depersonalization. It can be a symptom of cPTSD or schizoid personality disorder (which is sort of like cPTSD-as-personality).

Not a psych person, but depersonalization can also be a (mostly maladaptive) coping strategy for depression. GP's description sounds like simple depression to me though.

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

#140

Post by dang »

ineedasername wrote: post #97
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…

Please don't take either down. Please make an exception. It isn't like a normal article post, and sure you don't want this to become a trend, but damn we're also in a mental health crisis as a society right now, and meaningful conversations are going on in the comments of both of these posts. This isn't a mental health community, but these posts happened and got their upvotes and that shows there's a group of HN read…

HN has had many threads about mental health and emotional topics and will have many more in the future. I don't think so much depends on having two threads rather than one at this moment.

But there are exceptions to everything and the two threads are curiously distinct, in a way that makes merging them feel a bit wrong, like merging two different meals or something. So I think it's fine for indecision and oddity to win out for a change.

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