Ask HN: How can I help people defeat depression?

I lost a friend who had been struggling for awhile today. Does anyone know how I can use my effort (like in say, software development, or machine learning/AI, or maybe neuroscience) to help people with their struggles/problems, like depression?

I have had a one but long period of depression in the past where everything was dark. Dark as hell. Retrospectively I can say, by far the thigs that help the most are just someone listening. Listening the other who needs it and in a 10% maybe help them by reframing them and put in perspective their view. It is a really difficult job. Second something that helped me a lot was CBT online by using Lantern, it helps you see things differently and chat with a therapist all day long, personally I trusted my couch there way more than any of the 3 therapist I saw personally, they sucked. Lastly the best thing that helped me get back to my real better me was to become useful. That means do create stuff on the side (a useful startup with paying customers) and get a job in the terms I always wanted earning well (remote consultant). In my case money played a big role. Also as soon as possible get the best gym you can. I tried 5 gyms and some sucked, other were good, but I as soon as I bought the most expensive one, it was by far the best desicion I have made. Last but no lease, it might be stupid but something that impacted a lot for the better was upgrading my work tools to the best one on the market, I bought a nice big monitor and ordered all my workspace. This improved my mood a lot instead of a the tiny little screen of my Mac, not recommended for 15+ work day. I forgot, try reducing sugars and carbs. Hope this helps someone. There is a escape. Get in touch with me if needed. g at black dot uy

I wonder if some kind of chatbot therapist would help. It would have to be somehow preloaded with actual good things to say. Maybe you could get real therapists to volunteer various answers.

It's not ideal, but many people are in desperate situations. Not everyone can afford $100 an hour for a therapist.

And there's something to be said for someone who just listens. I remember hearing a story decades ago about a man who put an ad in the classifieds: "Will listen without comment for 20 minutes for $20." He got a lot of calls!

There was an early chatbot that did something less sophisticated than this, called ELIZA. It mostly repeated back what the user typed in a question form, but the typing of thoughts was cathartic enough for people to use it for long sessions

Be kind to everyone you meet.