So, this never happened to me but I did definitely screw up in other ways that left a similar (read: way longer) gap of meaningful progress in my life. It took me a long time to get over the pure regret this caused. You can make up the lost time, by being wiser, happier, and if you can, more successful. Your life isn't over yet.
Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
61–70 of 361 posts
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#62My relative gone through schizophrenia and never recovered fully to normal life. You're happy that you did. Don't blame yourself, you have no control over it, it just happens. Be careful with your work-life balance and keep visiting doctors as long as needed. You can never be sure that it won't get back some day but treating this situation before it gets dire makes everything easier.
Can you elaborate on "never recovered fully to normal life". My wife went through her first episode psychosis and it's likely schizophrenia. Did they ever realize that the delusions weren't true? Do they still have unusual behavior? Are they on maintenance meds? Sorry for the questions, I know there's a lot of stories the internet already, but I trust NH users opinions more than reddit and I'd really like an idea of…
She couldn't return to work despite her attempts, she has issues communicating with other people, she acts weird sometimes. She definitely realized everything after she got treatment and meds and she mostly normal but still not quite. She's on maintenance meds for few years already.
I think that every case is unique so don't take it for given. I live in poor country and our doctors might not be the best in the world (altough I think that they're competent enough), so here's that.
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#63Ah yeah I totally lost it in 2019. Difficult to describe what happened but I just stopped functioning completely for about 6 months. I managed to hide it from everyone successfully which I don’t recommend. Fortunately something went click just as covid kicked off and I managed to sort it out. I’d go as far as saying that covid might have actually saved me because it brought most people down to where I was so it was easier to evaluate myself.
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#64(CW OCD) Twice in my life I've become helplessly obsessed with a given topic to the point that nearly everything I saw, heard, or thought about would build a new association back to the topic, forming a feedback loop. The first time it lasted a year. No one could tell because I was just acting like a weird teenager to them, but it was hugely debilitating. I couldn't get off the ride. The second time, maybe fifteen ye…
Interesting. What condition was this? Its psychology intrigues me.
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#65Normalising talking about it, is good. This needs to be something people can say, water cooler or no. I had two episodes like this 40+ years ago. I sought mental health advice and have never regretted it. In my own situation CBT worked fine so I have a strong bias toward it, as does my continuing mental health professional. Non-CBT therapy especially, but really any mental health treatment should be something you dis…
Interesting to hear from someone with psychotherapy experience from 40+ years ago. I wonder how much the core of professional mental help has changed over that many decades. There must have been a lot of stigma surrounding it back in those days; then again, since the "industry" must have been smaller, too, it was probably somewhat easier to find a really good therapist?
Just thinking out loud out of curiosity -- as a person with mild but very successful mental help experience (in a tiny European country).
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#66Sometimes this can be a sign you need to put more energy into the spiritual side of your life. Many people find faith important to their mental well being. As society has abandoned its religious foundation, mental illness has increased. Perhaps psychosis is the mind’s way of saying, there’s more to all this.
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#67I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off.
And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit.
I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected for what little work I've been able to do.
Haven't done therapy lately but one thing that comes to mind is how futile everything is. I know it's a cliché but I'm almost 40 so this isn't your regular teenage angst "nothing matters", I thought I was past that.
It might be rooted in the fact that I don't have kids, I haven't found purpose yet. But the thoughts that come to mind is that this could all end tomorrow and wtf are we working for when we could be living?
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#68I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…
Every time I've felt like this it's been time for a change of responsibilities. Are you stagnant?
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#69I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…
Every time I've felt like this it's been time for a change of responsibilities. Are you stagnant?
That's a really good point, yes. More than a decade with the same employer.
But at the same time that employer provides such job security that it allows me to travel the world (which I just started) and still work.
So that's kinda keeping me there. That is also what is motivating me to get back on track because I have a goal now, to travel, and my job is financing that, and the freedom my employer provides is making it possible.
But yeah I have been dabbling in the job market to kickstart my motivation again. But it has to be a remote-only job of course.
Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?
#70I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…
Sounds like burnout. Sticking around because you feel guilty you've been unproductive sounds like prolonging the problem. I'm not an expert, this isn't advice.