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

A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

moz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 132 posts

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#51

Post by AznHisoka »

gadders wrote: post #41

I admire what Moz has done and it was an interesting read. My comment is more of a meta one about HN. Are we really that interested in these stories of depression? We seem to get at least one a week. I realise it's an issue that may affect people here, but I'm not sure if we need the volume we are seeing now.

I sure as heck want to see more of these as opposed to "We got acquired and will be living the good life!" or "Heck yeah, we growth hacked to 10,000,000 customers using a vague strategy you probably can't apply to your startup"

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#52

Post by meh_master »

fjolthor wrote: post #38
meh_master wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took Celexa and Cymbalta a few years ago but neither seemed to do anything for me. I may give medication another shot in the future, but I don't know.

Yes I tried Prozac and Zoloft 12 years ago before giving Wellbutrin a try early last year. It worked worlds better/differently because it is a non-addictive stimulant as well. Some doctors prescribe it to their children as a safe ADD medication.

Interesting. I tried Adderall a few years ago as a stimulant, but it had no noticeable effect.

I ended up going through a month supply of it in under a week, I kept upping my daily dosage hoping for a miracle cure, because I wanted a magical pill. Happiness in a pill or something that would numb me to daily life.

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#53

Post by lnanek2 »

gadders wrote: post #41

I admire what Moz has done and it was an interesting read. My comment is more of a meta one about HN. Are we really that interested in these stories of depression? We seem to get at least one a week. I realise it's an issue that may affect people here, but I'm not sure if we need the volume we are seeing now.

Well, the stories are submitted by users and voted up by users. Logically, if you think about it, depressed people probably spend more time on social news sites than people who are not, since people who are not are more likely to spend more time working. So depression stories probably have an audience more engaged with the site.

The staff do tend to ban or cripple votes of things like NSA stories and whatnot when they want to interfere, but you are talking to the wrong people for an admin hack.

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#54

Post by DanBC »

gadders wrote: post #41

I admire what Moz has done and it was an interesting read. My comment is more of a meta one about HN. Are we really that interested in these stories of depression? We seem to get at least one a week. I realise it's an issue that may affect people here, but I'm not sure if we need the volume we are seeing now.

We see so many because of the prevalence of mental ill health in society.

These stories are obviously applicable to start ups - what would you do if a co-founder or key employee asked to reduce hours while they were getting medical treatment for mental ill health? What would you do if they were detained against their will under mental health laws?

The other reason they get such prominence is that treatment for mental illness is still variable. Cognitive behaviour therapy and medication (for depression) is about as good as you can get yet it still seems weirdly difficult to get that as a package.

Finally: these stories point to gaps in the market that startups could fill. Online delivery of therapy has some evidence base, so if you can deliver it better or cheaper there's money to be made. Or perhaps providing evidencd based information to clinicians ("patient has diagnosis X; what should their care look like?") or hundreds of other ideas.

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#55

Post by fjolthor »

meh_master wrote: post #52
fjolthor wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I tried Prozac and Zoloft 12 years ago before giving Wellbutrin a try early last year. It worked worlds better/differently because it is a non-addictive stimulant as well. Some doctors prescribe it to their children as a safe ADD medication.

Interesting. I tried Adderall a few years ago as a stimulant, but it had no noticeable effect. I ended up going through a month supply of it in under a week, I kept upping my daily dosage hoping for a miracle cure, because I wanted a magical pill. Happiness in a pill or something that would numb me to daily life.

I used Adderall a lot in college and a bit after but it only works temporarily and doesn't target depression. Actually the subsequent low from Adderall and other stimulants is why I hate them and they never turned into a serious addiction.

Wellbutrin had a stimulant effect at first because I wasn't used to it, but it slowly becomes less noticeable, leaving only the positive effects. I remember thinking about a week or so in: This is how other people get to feel?!? wtf

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#56

Post by 8ig8 »

canvia wrote: post #39
meh_master wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been depressed for over ten years, I'm currently thirty years old. I left my job in January due to depression, though I didn't tell anyone. I haven't worked a day since then and am just living off savings as they dwindle. I haven't spoken to any of my former co-workers who were my only contacts in the Bay Area since I moved from the East Coast to work at a startup. I've spent all day every day numbing myself wit…

People expect a big change to come along and fix things, but that is rarely the case. Regression or progression is a battle of inches with goals that are miles apart. For me, using a "one" system has proven greatly beneficial in making progress. I made a list of the areas in my life that I want to improve, and every day I try to do at least one thing towards achieving those goals. In my case the primary goals are: ph…

You reminded me of this Reddit comment: "No More Zero Days"

http://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_jus...

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#57

Post by IkmoIkmo »

AznHisoka wrote: post #50
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just upvoting this for visibility, hope someone has some helpful comments for you. I really, really don't know what to tell you. I mean I can tell you what needs to happen, where you should start, but I've been there before and for me the biggest obstacle was that I didn't care, had no energy or motivation. So while I knew all the right answers, actually acting on it was the biggest obstacle. I'm not sure if that's y…

Since when did being mindful got associated with being hippy?

My point is that a lot of people have an anti-reaction to words like mindfulness, meditation, vegetarianism, yoga, when science shows it seems to really help. A bit like how a stereotypical redneck shuts down when a stereotypical hippy suggests a different lifestyle.

So I was just joking to recognize he MIGHT just be rolling his eyes at that point, but to consider it none the less. This attitude may not be so prevalent at HN, but when someone has depression for 10 years, chances are he's heard the same story (e.g. "oh, read this book about mindfulness, you'll be better before you know it!") a million times before. I get that. I didn't want him to stop reading at that point. I used the word mindful purposefully because of this, not 'mindfulness'. Anyway you can ignore my point.

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#58

Post by kaitai »

rbinv wrote: post #7
swombat wrote: post #6

Forgive my ignorance and bluntness, but reading the above, it sounds more like an anxiety disorder than like depression. Both are serious, but I'm not sure if it helps to confuse the two? I've not experienced either seriously, but I know people who have. Depression seems to be more about things not mattering anymore, everything being pointless, the world seeming drab and just not fun anymore, rather than feeling that…

Could you please elaborate on your caffeine-related anxiety attacks?

I'll throw in a personal experience with caffeine. I was feeling really bad (anxiety-attack-ish, according to Google) whenever I sat down to work on my thesis, a few years back. I'd use nice coffee to bribe myself to work on the thing. One day I went to work on the thesis after going to the gym and left my heart-rate monitor on. I noticed that this bad feeling coincided with a seated heart rate of 110 bpm, long enough after exercise that it should have been around 68. Investigation and experimentation ensued. Short version: caffeine + hard thinking about something scary launched me into a real physical anxiety attack; just switching to green tea allowed me to continue my work ritual without the panic.

Re: A Long, Ugly Year of Depression That’s Finally Fading

#59

Post by dfc »

l33tbro wrote: post #43

As somebody who is not depressed, it is always confronting to see just how hard depressed people are on themselves.

Is confronting the word you meant to use? It does not make much sense in this context. But the alternative explanation is that an attempt at "comforting" was auto-corrected to confronting. But being "comforted" by another person's sadness makes it appear that you are a "less than virtuous and decent" person and that does not seem like something you would want to advertise.
Post reply on HN