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If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

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Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#81

Post by magduf »

tabtab wrote: post #37
avgDev wrote: post #28

The more you know about the world and tech especially, the more you will get depressed, IMO, maybe I'm wrong. Humans in general are pretty shitty, driven mostly by self-interest. I guess there are people driven by doing good but most people are capable of doing terrible things, especially when in a group. I do suffer from existential depression, I'm generally pretty happy, but as I learn more and live longer my outlo…

Agreed. The average human is illogical. It's not easy for Vulcans to live among Ferengies. I don't claim to be "mostly right", but I do claim to use and be able to produce a logical train of thought for recommending courses of actions. I can write it out in detail if and when requested. However, few are really interested in a logical justification: they usually use office politics and their "gut" to decide. Sorry, bu…

If you live around people who resemble Ferengi (that's the proper plural form), then maybe you should look at relocating to a different country where the people don't share the attitudes of the Ferengi.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#82

Post by ganzuul »

gbear605 wrote: post #57
ganzuul wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who knows. When I eat too much wheat I feel like I have a hangover for two days. Over here they started adding selenium to the soil in 60s, and my grandmother tells me no one complained about bread making them sick before that. Perhaps it's that additive that makes tractor fuel oil exhaust blue, or too much selective breeding without thought to nutrition, or some kind of preservation practice which 99% of people don'…

Or the 1% was unknown

An awful lot is being written about it these days. I hope we come to the root of the issue, whatever it may be.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#83

Post by klodolph »

LinuxBender wrote: post #72
fifnir wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be depressed

Nope. Quite happy. I just want to get on the elevator before the door closes and I have to wait another 5 minutes.

I have no reason to disbelieve you when you say that you’re not depressed, but depression is not the same thing as sadness or the absence of happiness. You can be happy and depressed at the same time.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#84

Post by magduf »

ergl wrote: post #70
avgDev wrote: post #28

The more you know about the world and tech especially, the more you will get depressed, IMO, maybe I'm wrong. Humans in general are pretty shitty, driven mostly by self-interest. I guess there are people driven by doing good but most people are capable of doing terrible things, especially when in a group. I do suffer from existential depression, I'm generally pretty happy, but as I learn more and live longer my outlo…

Your tl;dr is alarmingly defeatist. If you're in tech and feeling angry all the time, the answer is not to try meds, the answer is to get politically involved and change the moral bankrupty of our industry. If you're US based, check your nearest TWC ( https://techworkerscoalition.org/ ) chapter.

There's not much you can do in US politics if you're a techie working in the tech industry. Face it, you're probably not a highly charismatic person who has a chance of winning any serious election beyond the local school board.

The answer is to go someplace else where you don't feel angry all the time.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#85

Post by mLuby »

justtopost wrote: post #43
cmiller1 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The line between personality traits and mental disorder is usually drawn at "does this have a significant negative impact on the person's functioning?"

If our functioning is negative due to our environment, rather than the impetus to our actions, what then?

It's unfortunate, but the environment is unlikely to change, so if you dislike your symptoms you've gotta change what you can. That said, if you can change your environment (new job, new home, new friends, etc) that's going to be a heck of a lot easier than changing yourself.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#86

Post by dak1 »

avgDev wrote: post #28

The more you know about the world and tech especially, the more you will get depressed, IMO, maybe I'm wrong. Humans in general are pretty shitty, driven mostly by self-interest. I guess there are people driven by doing good but most people are capable of doing terrible things, especially when in a group. I do suffer from existential depression, I'm generally pretty happy, but as I learn more and live longer my outlo…

People don't act on perfect information. In general, what they know is what is personally relevant to them.

Given limited information, we use shortcuts for making decisions, including what we believe to be best for us based on pre-learned models that are shaped by education, our peers, media, and culture in general.

Often, our models our wrong. This can be manifested as racist beliefs and actions, as well as rejection of actual facts, among other outcomes. Of course, the outcome is also entirely possible to be a positive one despite the inputs being inaccurate or incomplete.

Yet, despite our simple models and narrow understanding of the world, we, as a species, have managed to build friendships, communities, and civilizations. We have peered back in time billions of years, learned of our place in the universe, and invented pizza.

It's easy to get focused on all the problems, because that tends to take up most of our focus — but only because we're constantly striving to improve and solve those problems. Sometimes these problems are social, collective action issues, built on incorrect personal models distributed across millions or billions of individuals, and they can take longer to resolve than many of us would like. But, looking at the arc of history, we trend toward progress.

Therefore, I think the correct response to the human condition is one of hope. Of course, this whole experiment that is humanity could end tomorrow or next century due to a nuclear holocaust, GRB, climate change, superbug, or a billion of other existential threats. But until it does, let's marvel at the run we have had, and continue to subscribe to the mass delusion of hope that has served us well so far.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#87

Post by solarkraft »

ryanstorm wrote: post #41
avgDev wrote: post #28

The more you know about the world and tech especially, the more you will get depressed, IMO, maybe I'm wrong. Humans in general are pretty shitty, driven mostly by self-interest. I guess there are people driven by doing good but most people are capable of doing terrible things, especially when in a group. I do suffer from existential depression, I'm generally pretty happy, but as I learn more and live longer my outlo…

Your comment aligns with an old HN comment that I have saved that resonated with me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16402387 I'd also recommend people feeling this way to read The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt. It helped me.

Thanks for sharing this comment. I do have a bit of trouble with the last paragraph. Am I understanding correctly that the author claims depression is neccessary for building a better model of the world?

I'm sure depression has caused me to think about things and get a better understanding of them, but is it neccessary? What am I currently building a better model of?

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#88

Post by ganzuul »

coleifer wrote: post #58
avgDev wrote: post #28

The more you know about the world and tech especially, the more you will get depressed, IMO, maybe I'm wrong. Humans in general are pretty shitty, driven mostly by self-interest. I guess there are people driven by doing good but most people are capable of doing terrible things, especially when in a group. I do suffer from existential depression, I'm generally pretty happy, but as I learn more and live longer my outlo…

In my head I refer to this perspective as "this toilet earth". And it's easy to get swept away by it. The antidote is in your own heart, and in the hearts of all people. An unselfish, hidden act of love. Taking actions that align with what we commonly understand to be good, kind and unselfish have literally changed the way I think and the way I see (most of the time, right?). I could never think myself into acceptanc…

When depressed you do good deeds and feel nothing.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#89

Post by sctb »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #8

If you ever feel angry, irritable, sad, apathetic, restless, tired or any way other than perfectly fine, positive and happy, then you're suffering from depression. Go to your nearest psychiatrist to be assured that you're a victim, that your brain is broken and there's nothing that you can do, and that the only path to feeling "normal" is becoming dependent on a high-priced drug cocktail that will alter your brain ch…

Please comment substantively instead.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#90

Post by LinuxBender »

coleifer wrote: post #75
LinuxBender wrote: post #69

I am not depressed, but I am often annoyed by the idiots that won't stop staring at their phones when getting onto or off of the elevator. I can be annoyed without being depressed. I am not related to these ding-dongs, so it's only their progeny that should be depressed.

I definitely get that, too. I pull up at the stoplight next to a lady in the other car, she's on facebook, looking at pictures and videos of other people. I want to shout, "hey, what the fuck? Wake up." And then I think about her as a person. With needs, desires, fears. A complete person, just as much as I'm a complete person. The initial reaction softens and I have compassion for her because we're the same.

My personality is a bit different than yours. For right or wrong, I used to think like that, then I realized I was allowing people to walk all over me. I no longer allow such shenanigans and I feel 500% better for it.
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