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

Anthony Bourdain has died

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 344 posts

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#61

Post by mieseratte »

volkl48 wrote: post #39
JshWright wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depression doesn't care how awesome your life is.

Sometimes an awesome life can actually make it harder. It's easy to justify being depressed when you have a crappy life. (even though your depression probably doesn't have some cause like that) "I am depressed because I am living in a bad apartment in a bad part of town, working a bad job. If I get a better job and can afford a better apartment, I'll be happy." Assuming you have some hope for that happening, that can…

> "I have everything I could ever want, and I'm still depressed."

Not only that, but it becomes very easy to tell yourself that you don't deserve success. It's easy to look at your life and say "I haven't really worked that much harder, lived that much more virtuously. I don't deserve this, this should be someone else..."

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#62

Post by hellofunk »

organicmultiloc wrote: post #48
curveship wrote: post #30

I really wanted Bourdain to become a salty, profligate old man, throwing barbs from behind a stiff drink and an ever-craggier face. Sad news.

He was an addict and got sober, but otherwise yeah the image is fitting.

> He was an addict and got sober

Commenter was talking about alcohol. He drinks a lot of alcohol in most of the episodes I’ve seen.

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#63

Post by jadell »

hellofunk wrote: post #62
organicmultiloc wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was an addict and got sober, but otherwise yeah the image is fitting.

> He was an addict and got sober Commenter was talking about alcohol. He drinks a lot of alcohol in most of the episodes I’ve seen.

Addicted to drugs, not alcohol.

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#64

Post by gr33nman »

69132 wrote: post #47
ianai wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be a literal chemical imbalance in the brain. Nothing anyone has free will to decide to feel. (Ie they can’t “think it away”) We need a more inclusive society for this reason. Things like bullying and other ego boosters at the cost of others separate people.

That whole "chemical imbalance" thing is a myth.

“Rather than some embarrassingly reductionist, one-deficiency-one-illness-one-pill model of mental illness, contemporary exploration of human behavior has demonstrated that we may know less than we ever thought we did. And that what we do know about root causes of mental illness seems to have more to do with the concept of evolutionary mismatch than with genes and chemical deficiencies.”

http://kellybroganmd.com/depression-serotonin/

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#65

Post by adamc »

Ntrails wrote: post #60

>, I can only hope that people as a whole start seeing it as a complex issue and the stigma of mental issues and stress can lessen so that people can get help Possibly inappropriate - but why do people immediately link suicide and mental illness? Why do we stand in judgement declaring it wrong to decide ones own fate? Am I not the master of my own existence and do I not have the right to make a decision on it without…

I think we link it because, most of the time, it is linked to mental illness -- typically depression. It's not an issue of "rights" but of whether you are really functioning competently. Sure, there are cases where someone makes the decision to commit suicide because of a terrible terminal illness (e.g., bone cancer). But that is not the norm.

FWIW, I say this as someone who has had severe depression and been suicidal.

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#66

Post by chatmasta »

Ntrails wrote: post #60

>, I can only hope that people as a whole start seeing it as a complex issue and the stigma of mental issues and stress can lessen so that people can get help Possibly inappropriate - but why do people immediately link suicide and mental illness? Why do we stand in judgement declaring it wrong to decide ones own fate? Am I not the master of my own existence and do I not have the right to make a decision on it without…

Suicide is inherently a selfish act, and I think that’s where the perception of it being “wrong” comes from.

Sure you have the right to decide your own fate, but you should consider that you affect other people. In taking your own life you’re also fucking up the life of everyone who cares about you, forcing them into a state of grief and possibly causing them to blame themselves for what was ultimately a selfish act on your part.

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#68

Post by jb1991 »

69132 wrote: post #47
ianai wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be a literal chemical imbalance in the brain. Nothing anyone has free will to decide to feel. (Ie they can’t “think it away”) We need a more inclusive society for this reason. Things like bullying and other ego boosters at the cost of others separate people.

That whole "chemical imbalance" thing is a myth.

Entirely untrue and offensive. Propagating this is dangerous and fuels the stigma that makes treatment harder.

Not all mental illness is chemical, but a lot very much is.

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#69

Post by oldsklgdfth »

Ntrails wrote: post #60

>, I can only hope that people as a whole start seeing it as a complex issue and the stigma of mental issues and stress can lessen so that people can get help Possibly inappropriate - but why do people immediately link suicide and mental illness? Why do we stand in judgement declaring it wrong to decide ones own fate? Am I not the master of my own existence and do I not have the right to make a decision on it without…

I agree with the position that you are the boss of your own life. But I also believe that it is at the very least considerate to self-limit your freedoms to a point where they do not adversely affect the ones around you.

My conclusion for my suicide is "bad" is because it causes pain and suffering to the ones around you. I relate suicide to stress that cannot be managed. If you feel like you need to die, then you are completely free to do anything. So why not do that? Remove that stress, till you don't feel like that's the only answer.

Re: Anthony Bourdain has died

#70

Post by sgift »

Ntrails wrote: post #60

>, I can only hope that people as a whole start seeing it as a complex issue and the stigma of mental issues and stress can lessen so that people can get help Possibly inappropriate - but why do people immediately link suicide and mental illness? Why do we stand in judgement declaring it wrong to decide ones own fate? Am I not the master of my own existence and do I not have the right to make a decision on it without…

Because in the overwhelming number of cases there is a direct link. The count of people who decide that "enough is enough" is dwarfed by all the people suffering from mental illness that see no other way out, but could get help if society as a whole was willing to give it.
Post reply on HN