Never heard that phrase, but your description sounds like burnout. You may have better luck researching it as such.
Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
21–30 of 87 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#22If you'd like to talk with other folks who've been there:
#PTSDChat on Twitter - Every Wed 9pm EDT since 2014
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#23No.
Says the guy who raised 10s of millions of venture capital, used that to build himself up, pissed the company down the drain, and is now selling a fake story about his great successes. Yeah, startup PTSD doesn't apply to you because you don't care for anyone besides yourself. People like you are just making it worse.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#24Disregarding the clinical definition of PTSD as I'm not qualified to diagnose, I will answer a slightly different question:
"Is _career trauma_ real and possible?"
Yes, absolutely.
I had an experience early in my career where I was working with a partner who was toxic, and over months and months I became more and more stressed out, and eventually I ended up having health problems. I finally had to end the partnership, and my health improved significantly -- but I was deeply burned out for a while, it took a long time to get all the way back to productivity.
So yeah, trauma in your work life is very real, it happens to many people, and it's difficult to recover from. But life does get better, and you can recover!
Definitely consider counseling if you aren't getting it already. A professional counselor can be a very big help to your mental health - and remember that in knowledge work our mental health is our vocational bread and butter, so it's worth investing in :)
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#25How is someone else’s negative reaction to your business a “trauma”?
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They can cause something like PTSD. I believe that OP was asking about actual PTSD, which is thing with a specific definition and diagnostic criteria.
Stress caused by trauma is by definition post-traumatic stress. It is commonly associated with war, car crashes or other violence but bear in mind that trauma is fairly subjective.
Yes, but to be a disorder it has to meet specific criteria.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#27I had to shut down a company and lay off a dozen people, losing most of my savings and several years work. Friends have experienced much worse. These might not compare to the worst horrors of war, but they rank among life's agonies with getting divorced, or losing a parent. They can cause something like PTSD. It can take months or years to be ready to try something big again, and some people never bounce back. Most p…
> They can cause something like PTSD. I believe that OP was asking about actual PTSD, which is thing with a specific definition and diagnostic criteria.
All disorders are just labels trying to encompass the complexity of the entire human brain at every level. If you hear stories from people diagnosed with something and you're surprised by how much you relate to it, then you're surprised by how much you relate to it and can empathize on some level depending on how it impacted you and the person whose story you're comparing to. Or maybe you strongly relate but reject diagnosis for some reason. Maybe you feel you have a strong reason for this that isn't easy for others to understand, and maybe that's correct.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#28I had to shut down a company and lay off a dozen people, losing most of my savings and several years work. Friends have experienced much worse. These might not compare to the worst horrors of war, but they rank among life's agonies with getting divorced, or losing a parent. They can cause something like PTSD. It can take months or years to be ready to try something big again, and some people never bounce back. Most p…
> They can cause something like PTSD. I believe that OP was asking about actual PTSD, which is thing with a specific definition and diagnostic criteria.
Guy tells an interesting story from his own experience and this dude wants to quibble about specific definitions and diagnostic criteria, this is the pedantry HN is famous for.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They can cause something like PTSD. I believe that OP was asking about actual PTSD, which is thing with a specific definition and diagnostic criteria.
All disorders are just labels trying to encompass the complexity of the entire human brain at every level. If you hear stories from people diagnosed with something and you're surprised by how much you relate to it, then you're surprised by how much you relate to it and can empathize on some level depending on how it impacted you and the person whose story you're comparing to. Or maybe you strongly relate but reject d…
Eh, sorta? Clinicians take those "labels" seriously; they're more than a mere shorthand for the psychological experience(s) of an individual.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#30Trauma comes in many forms. Of course it is real and possible.