https://web.archive.org/web/20200911062548/http://blog.elifi...
Thanks! I think I got the server sorted out.
I built an app to fix my depression
101–110 of 179 posts
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#102I just spent 5 minutes with the app, and had a revelation about my fear of failure and how it relates to my parents that I've never had before. Thanks for sharing this.
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#103The blog seems down, but the page it linked to is still up: https://beta.wuju.app/
App is down now but the archived version works perfectly :
https://web.archive.org/web/20200911062544if_/https://beta.w...
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#104So many mental health apps these days with so little high quality evidence of their effectiveness.
And there are so many of these apps out there, why would someone build their own? Maybe OP is onto something though.
Could it be that the creative process and challenge of building an app to solve a personal problem is just as good a treatment for depression as the app itself?
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#105I like the idea! However, I don't know much about psychology, so I'd personally be hesitant to create such a product. Certainly "releasing emotions" without a therapist could be somewhat dangerous for some people. And perhaps what actually helped him isn't using the app, but a new sense of purpose or meaning in his life due his discovery of the book and developing the app. It'd probably be wise to consult an expert o…
I had the same thought—making a thing can be cathartic, especially if you wind up listening to relaxing music the entire time you’re working on it.
As far as risk goes this seems low voltage enough to be at worst harmless.
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#106It makes me sad when i read stories like that. I feel depressed. Doctor - Take these pills. I still feel sad. Doctor - Take more pills. Medication cures symptoms of depression but cannot fix the underlying problems causing it. Taking pill to feel happy again is a patchwork that will eventually burst catastrophically.
Jordan Peterson (yes, I know he’s got his problems) had a line in one of his recorded class sessions that has always stuck with me. I don’t have time to find the video on YouTube, but it was something along the lines of: If you’re dealing with someone who’s depressed and they’re really depressed, you should try giving them antidepressants because if they die you can’t help them.
The point being, it isn’t a cure, but it keeps you going until you can get therapy sessions or whatever else you need.
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's important to learn. When given the choice to feel nothing about either, you should choose something productive to do. People are much more likely to help you if you have a good past record and can maintain some benefits for them. It's an investment to help a depressed person for society and if you get stuck in the hole for longer, you are that unlikely to get any help.
This is an incredibly callous and sad way to think of the well-being of other human beings. Helping another person as they struggle with their mental health shouldn't be an investment, something you expect to extract value from later; you help someone through difficult times because you care about them and love them. It's something you should do out of the goodness of your heart. Viewing all of your relationships as…
I don't. It's an observation.
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#108So many mental health apps these days with so little high quality evidence of their effectiveness. And there are so many of these apps out there, why would someone build their own? Maybe OP is onto something though. Could it be that the creative process and challenge of building an app to solve a personal problem is just as good a treatment for depression as the app itself?
Part of my job is analyzing quality metrics surrounding depression. Everyone is failing, and uncontrolled depression is an unseen pandemic. We are in rapid innovation phase.
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#109Read the blog post and also the other blog post in the page ( "Why discipline isn’t the answer to procrastination", "How to stick to good habits without being hard on yourself", "How fear of shame causes procrastination", "How fear of success causes procrastination"). I get the feeling that the author is in a situation a lot of people in HN could relate to: A situation where Performance Anxiety, Fear of missing out (…
I think, as op also insinuates, it is all about acceptance. Accepting one's shortcomings, accepting that you can't do everything you want(ed), that you wont become what you always dreamed of. Love yourself despite of what you think of as shortcomings, think of the things you did achieve (and the things you have, like a stoic philosopher). You are a pretty incredible being with pretty incredible skills. If only you ac…
It surely is acceptance, but how do you convince yourself of it? How do you convince a young college student, a just-out-of college late 20's (me), a about-to-hit-midlife late 30's/40's person that is struggling to reach the expectation they have put?
Tell a college kid to lower his expectation and he will feel like a "unmotivated" person, tell a 30's/40's that and he will feel like a failure, all his struggle for nothing, and tell a late 20's to lower his expectation and that goes against every self-motivation influencer and (probably) what his surrounding successful peers suggest.
I think most people understand that the answer is acceptance, but how to reach that point, is so different for each person. Because some people overcome it by sheer grit, while some through therapists, it's hard for a person in the grind to realize what course of action is the best, and before it's too late.
Re: I built an app to fix my depression
#110So many mental health apps these days with so little high quality evidence of their effectiveness. And there are so many of these apps out there, why would someone build their own? Maybe OP is onto something though. Could it be that the creative process and challenge of building an app to solve a personal problem is just as good a treatment for depression as the app itself?
Generally speaking, it's good to have goals, a purpose, and a creative outlet.
Tangentially, I know that personally, something I struggle with, that has caused me frustration, is that I often feel like in my work life, I am forced to work on projects that I think are basically bullshit. I'm being asked to implement a feature that I believe is useless, or to work on a project that my intuition tells me will get axed later, have very little or no impact, or is based on terrible design decisions and just painful to work on. That leaves me feeling powerless and unmotivated, and has pushed me into a depression in the past.
As a programmer, having a side project can be a nice way to get what you can't always get at work, which is a sense of self-determination. A sense of working on something you actually believe in, something you can actually take the time to design cleanly and properly. Side projects can be a much better creative outlet than work. I hope that I can eventually find a job where I get to work on something I truly, really believe in. That's been very difficult to find so far though.