Thank you HN, sorry HN

For hackers suffering from depression, please don't resist getting help because you can't find resources specifically for hackers.

In the case of support groups, it's nice to be with people who share a similar background as you. But I think you'll find that the shared experience with depression will massively overcome what shared experience you lack on the job or as a hobby.

Please get help. It's not an exaggeration to say it could be the difference between life and death. The path downward is often a long, gentle slope. While you're on it, it feels like flat ground. You don't realize you've hit the lowest elevation until... well, you just stop walking.

I think one of the biggest problems here is that people with suicidal level depression lose all perspective and see the world as void of any possibility of escaping whatever box they feel trapped in. No way out or through, no light at the end of the tunnel, just trapped in a particular emotional state and perception of things. No way forward in life.

One of the best ways to help people through that is for those who have been through it to simply share, in detail, their own experience with it, how and why they felt trapped at the time, and how they made it through, and what ultimately solved it for them.

Simply demonstrate the possibility, with as much concrete detail as possible (which hackers particularly require), that there is a way through (a hack, even), that depression grossly skews your perspective of the world, and things are not as bad as they appear (especially for anyone living in a first world country and among the lucky few fluent in the empowering languages of technology).

Other options would be physically changing people's perspective by organizing some sort of multi-month aid mission to an impoverished country (maybe hook up with Engineers or Doctors Without Borders). Or alternatively a grueling, endorphin-generating Outward Bound type excursion. Anything to jolt people out of their current perspective of their relatively limited existence.

Finally, if it helps you could treat this whole idea as a startup, solving the particular problem of hacker depression. Use lean startup methodology, your hacker problem solving skills and mentality, look for hacks nobody has found yet. Document and blog it all, etc. Who knows where it might lead, but there's certainly an awareness of the problem thanks to high profile hacker suicides lately, and lots of people probably willing to help.

What I don't think you realize is that you have already done so much. That day your story hit the front page the community came together to support one of our own, you. This was huge. What's more is it brought depression to the front of our minds. On that day a few people may have hugged their wives a little tighter, asked their teenages how they have been doing... and actually listen. Not to mention the dozens of people who are also battling depression that would have acted on the advice given to you.

You've done so much, and you are doing so great. You have helped people with your story... even though they may not come forward and say it, I guarantee you did. I can tell you that your story restored my faith in this community, which so often gets caught up in some pretty silly arguments. For this, I thank you.

You've done so much, you've done so great, and you owe us nothing. Just focus on getting better, and hold onto this passion you seem to have for helping people who are in situations similar to yours. It will come in handy...

I could write forever, so I'm going to stop now.. but just one last thing. The world needs more people like you, not less. Hang in there.

More important than anything else, if you're having depression issues, it's important to remember that you can always change your story. You're not locked into anything (well, most things) in your life. True, some things are harder to shed than others, but if you're depressed enough where it affects you on a monumental, daily basis, just remember you can change it. Stop engaging in activities that make you feel like shit. Cut acquaintances (even family) out of your life that bring you down. Drop out of life for awhile if you need to - the people who truly care about you will understand. Anything is ultimately better than the alternatives of a quick demise or a bleak existence, both for you (primarily) and the people around you.

It gets better is an overused cliche, but it holds some merit. You can make it better.

(on a side note, time release caffeine sounds incredible.)