> but struggle to find authoritative related resources
I'd like to start a subthread with the question:
"What is an effective way to find a trustworthy therapist for problems close enough to 'startup PTSD' to ask?"
Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
81–87 of 87 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#82No.
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.
Please don't create accounts to break HN's guidelines with.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#83Yep it is totally possible.
I would find a therapist who can help you. The other way to help yourself is to re-frame the negative emotional experience into something positive. I recommend Feeling Great and Feeling Good as two books by David Burns that help. He has a podcast too and you can email him etc...
There are a lot of podcasts out there from entrepreneurs and now VCs who had failures. Most of them look back on those days fondly in retrospect and laugh about it.
Startups fail for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with you and out of your control. Most of the time its because the startup was too early. Pets.com and Webvan are the illustrative examples.
When you hit MVP you basically can't keep up with demand so it's really hard to fail when customers want your product.
Before the MVP you are in the search phase to find that product which can be stressful. But don't let it be the fear of failure. Rather be the fear of crap I have to get a regular job!
So the way to think about it is to enjoy the experience and take an undifferentiated view of it. That can be hard to do if you don't have your basic needs met or a safety net.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Nobody is saying that those experiences aren't traumatic ... The person I was replying to was saying exactly that. The fact there's a specific diagnostic criteria wasn't relevant. That said, you may find C-PTSD of interest: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/essentials/comple...
I should have said it sounds like it could suck very much to the point of being traumatic, but not the level of trauma experienced by those who suffer from PTSD.
My apologies for coming off harsh, your prior comment struck a chord. I'll try to explain:
If you take even a cursory glance at C-PTSD, you'll see a lot of it has to do with the stress of being trapped in extreme circumstance, with highly deleterious or even catastrophic mental health effects resulting from that prolonged stress.
You wouldn't tell a POW or concentration camp survivor that their trauma was less than that of a combat veteran or shooting victim, would you? Of course not.
Consider failed startups can sometimes lead to homelessness, which is both very trapping and extremely stressful. Sometimes deadly.
Point being: if the trauma ultimately enlists the same physiological and emotional mechanisms in ripping apart the human mind, then attempting to become an arbiter of trauma severity is really besides the point, if not poor taste.
Personally, I've experienced events that satisfy Criterion A of the DSM-V PTSD diagnostic criteria. Think dealing with an enraged, manic family member with a loaded rifle. Being on the receiving end of domestic violence. Threats of sexual violence against loved ones. That level of bad.
While the effects of those events easily satisfied the remainder of diagnostic criteria at the time and lasted quite a while, they pale in comparison to the chronic effects of choosing to pursue a startup and what that did to my mental health.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Going to have to disagree with you. There is a significant difference between going through something that really sucks, and being traumatized. Based on the information presented thus far, OP is going through the former.
Those are entirely subjective and you can't tell someone what makes them traumatized
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#86I for sure think its possible! A really effective treatment is EMDR. Have a look and try it out. It really helps people to quickly process negative emotional reactions.
Re: Ask HN: Is startup PTSD real and possible?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a specific set of objective diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Nobody is saying that those experiences aren't traumatic or stressful. What we're saying is that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a specific thing with a specific definition, distinct from "the set of all people who have experienced trauma as the result of stress". https://www.brainline.org/article/dsm-5-criteria-ptsd
Are you qualified to evaluate this persons anecdote from a diagnostic perspective? I’m curious, since you’re a pedant about diagnostic criteria, I’m surprised that a qualified individual would make such a determination from a brief HN post.
You'll note I made no such determination for or against.