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

Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

roadmaptogrow.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 74 posts

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#41

Post by afro88 »

jon-wood wrote: post #40
rocketbop wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I share your concern about using an app to deal with a psychological problem, but I think a counterpoint to your concern about this app being one-size-fits-all is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The central premise of CBT is that it doesn't really matter what the roots of the behaviour a patient wants to change are. Reprogramming our behaviours is enough. This is really the opposite of the old Freudian ideas that a th…

> I think a counterpoint to your concern about this app being one-size-fits-all is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy CBT is absolutely a one-size-fits-all solution though, and in my opinion quite harmful in many ways. The core premise of CBT is more or less "it's all in your head". I'm sure for some people it is, but for many (myself included when I tried it), it is absolutely not all something I could just handwave away…

It's a one size fits all approach sure, but only for cases where it's your thinking that is causing the negative state you're in. A state that has left you helpless or otherwise unable to help yourself get out of it.

CBT is about establishing new constructive thought patterns that break that cycle.

Condescending those that need this kind of tool to improve their mental health is unnecessary.

You might not have been in that kind of state (thoughts spiraling deeper and deeper into self loathing and depression for example), and it genuinely was just external circumstances that you needed to change.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#42

Post by sesm »

autoexec wrote: post #18

Apps that tempt people into placing their mental health issues, and the state of those issues, into networked devices designed to collect and leak their private data like a sieve is just irresponsible. I'm sure advertisers and data brokers would love to have this kind of information, but it's probably better for people who already have struggles with mental health if companies aren't exploiting those struggles for pr…

Also, an anxious person won’t use this app if there is any chance of his data leaking outside. For example, I couldn’t start my personal calendar until I found a way to have it 100% locally via Obsidian plugin.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#43

Post by jodrellblank »

jon-wood wrote: post #40
rocketbop wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I share your concern about using an app to deal with a psychological problem, but I think a counterpoint to your concern about this app being one-size-fits-all is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The central premise of CBT is that it doesn't really matter what the roots of the behaviour a patient wants to change are. Reprogramming our behaviours is enough. This is really the opposite of the old Freudian ideas that a th…

> I think a counterpoint to your concern about this app being one-size-fits-all is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy CBT is absolutely a one-size-fits-all solution though, and in my opinion quite harmful in many ways. The core premise of CBT is more or less "it's all in your head". I'm sure for some people it is, but for many (myself included when I tried it), it is absolutely not all something I could just handwave away…

I've listened to dozens of hours of Dr David Burns' Feeling Good Podcast[1] about CBT, he's in his late 70s and was one of the pioneers of it. I tend to come away thinking of it as a panacea and have to remind myself that diseases are complex and multifactorial and treatments won't work for everyone ...

Then you say "The core premise of CBT is more or less "it's all in your head" [...] it is absolutely not all something I could just handwave away with positive thinking." which is insultingly misrepresenting it, like grandpa disparaging everyone who works on computers in any capacity because "playing computer games all day isn't a real job".

It's nothing to do with handwaving things away, it's not positive thinking, it's not "just" any one trivial idea, and it doesn't come down to sucking anything up or accepting 'your place' (unless that means a terminal disease diagnosis, perhaps). It's as involved, interesting as debugging software - debugging how and why your thoughts generate your feelings - and you don't debug software by handwaving the bugs away or accepting that you will be stuck with broken software forever. There's counter-examples to your claim through the podcast: people who have been helped to get jobs or promotions, to be more effective or less stressed at work, to improve and rebuild their relationships with partners, friends, estranged parents. There's no colouring-in involved and Dr Burns is constantly banging the drum that patients must be tested at the start and end of every session to self-report their feelings in different areas to make sure they are improving because it's too common over the industry for patients to 'suddenly' leave after weeks and weeks of treatment saying "this hasn't helped me at all!" but when it's working well, patients will self-report significant improvements in very few sessions, and if they aren't, change something.

[1] https://feelinggood.com/ - podcast menu, at the top.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#44

Post by xyzelement »

I probably had social anxiety when I was younger. Being “forced” into social situations (eg choosing to become a manager, choosing to attend business school) helped get over it to a good extent, which I guess is in line with this app.

The key insight in retrospect is that ego and self centeredness play a big role. I used to think people really sit there and judge what and how I say and do. In reality that comes from assuming you are the center of everyone’s world, and you are not. People watch and care less than you think and there’s nothing to worry about.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#45

Post by nextlevelwizard »

autoexec wrote: post #18

Apps that tempt people into placing their mental health issues, and the state of those issues, into networked devices designed to collect and leak their private data like a sieve is just irresponsible. I'm sure advertisers and data brokers would love to have this kind of information, but it's probably better for people who already have struggles with mental health if companies aren't exploiting those struggles for pr…

Maybe touching some grass and freeing yourself from these shackles would actually improve your life? Constantly worrying if some data is gathered you that could be used to gasp better target advertisements for you probably is affecting that mental state a lot more than you can to admit.

You can go to absurd lengths to try and tie down your data, but at the end of the day your data isn't that interesting. Just run adblocking software and you are set.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#46

Post by beretguy »

Not every problem can or should be solved with some app. This one is a perfect example.

Often social anxiety is a symptom of an underlying problem. This app seems to try to treat that symptom, which will do no good. If person wants to solve their social anxiety problem they should seek professional help from licensed professional who will try to fix the underlying problem.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#47

Post by xctr94 »

nextlevelwizard wrote: post #45
autoexec wrote: post #18

Apps that tempt people into placing their mental health issues, and the state of those issues, into networked devices designed to collect and leak their private data like a sieve is just irresponsible. I'm sure advertisers and data brokers would love to have this kind of information, but it's probably better for people who already have struggles with mental health if companies aren't exploiting those struggles for pr…

Maybe touching some grass and freeing yourself from these shackles would actually improve your life? Constantly worrying if some data is gathered you that could be used to gasp better target advertisements for you probably is affecting that mental state a lot more than you can to admit. You can go to absurd lengths to try and tie down your data, but at the end of the day your data isn't that interesting. Just run adb…

This is nonsense. I’ve had to deal with bills coming in my name because someone got hold of my credit card and address. It’s absolutely stressful and will make you feel helpless. What about people denied insurance because of their Amazon purchases? People with bad mental health being harassed because their data leaked? Doxxing, iCloud hack photo leaks, people affected by leaks of key government IDs, etc.; how are you even suggesting that one shouldn’t worry about their data getting in the wrong hands? What kind of happy feel-good reality do you live in… Ads are the least of one’s concerns when it comes to your personal data.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#49

Post by ksenzee »

deltoids wrote: post #21
ksenzee wrote: post #16

This is essentially a medical device for administering behavioral therapy to treat social anxiety, and I don't see any indication that it was developed with any kind of input or review from experts in the field. I honestly feel that borders on irresponsible. A review from a psychologist specializing in social anxiety would be a good idea.

TLDR; creator should get a psychologist behind this project to avoid negative views. Disclaimer: I do not mean to belittle the author of the comment above in any way. I'm sharing my views on why I find it absurd to call a mental health tool like this irresponsible without a greenlight from a psychologist. I don't understand how people find these things so irresponsible. It's the same with using an LLM for therapy. Ma…

I understand this point of view - why shouldn't people share things that have helped them? - but that's why we regulate things like cures for diseases. Taken to an extreme, "here's what helped me" leads to cancer "cures" being hawked all over the internet. To me this app falls somewhere in between "here's how I quit procrastinating" and "here's how I cured my skin cancer." I can say from experience that social anxiety is not always easily treatable, even by your average therapist, and specialists in it have valuable knowledge that I think it would be wise to take advantage of if you're publicizing a treatment.

Re: Show HN: Roadmap – A Personal Growth Game for Social Anxiety

#50

Post by larusso »

wholinator2 wrote: post #14
larusso wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also interested. My social anxieties show the most in every day life situations not so much at work or at least no longer. During company parties it’s the worst. I receive a strong flight reflex and only want to go home. The more people I know better but that doesn’t always help. Alcohol helps but that isn’t an alley I want to follow. What I found interesting: I traveled the West coast this summer and I have no real…

One tip i heard from good ol jordan peterson is to force yourself to start making eye contact with people when you notice yourself slipping. It worked very well for me in party and on the street settings because it's a relatively easy task but such a simple gesture really opens the door to further interaction much wider. I never realized how much i was scowling and avoiding eye contact until i saw someone else doing…

Thanks for the tip. I have a winter party coming up and will give it a try. These situations got kinda easier for me during the last month since my team grew so I have more anchors than before.
Post reply on HN