Garzik: An Andre To Remember
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Garzik: An Andre To Remember
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Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#2That's a sad story, and one that's too common in our industry. Mental health issues in software are sadly under-discussed.
If you feel like making a difference I'd recommend donating to the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. They fund studies into mental health disorders, an area of science that is still only vaguely understood.
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#3It's hard to disagree with the general sentiment, but trading a life for a computing project is not really what happened here. Software development does not cause mental illness. In some cases, stressful jobs contribute to a person's mental degradation - but it's not like there was ever an option of trading in this guys passion for technology in exchange for a healthy brain.
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#4And as usual with this issue, this post shows little understanding of depression.
> There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni necklace. Visit a dairy. Climb a rock. Seek life.
Every point except for Seek Help is just "cheer up, pal" bunk.
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#5And as usual with this issue, this post shows little understanding of depression. > There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni ne…
Getting help is goal number one. However leading a more balanced life helps tremendously with preventing and maintaining some mental issues associated with thousands of hours of intellectually intense work. I feel strongly the above suggestions of spending more time outdoors, meeting new people etc are much more than "just cheer up" advice.
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#6And as usual with this issue, this post shows little understanding of depression. > There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni ne…
Getting help is goal number one. However leading a more balanced life helps tremendously with preventing and maintaining some mental issues associated with thousands of hours of intellectually intense work. I feel strongly the above suggestions of spending more time outdoors, meeting new people etc are much more than "just cheer up" advice.
When you're in deep depression you literally can't make yourself do anything. You may logically and reasonably know that you should go outside but you can't force yourself to actually open the door.
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#7And as usual with this issue, this post shows little understanding of depression. > There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni ne…
Based on the description on the Article this is anything but depression
May be bipolar disorder, or something more serious
But it's true, it's a misunderstanding, this has nothing to do with "staying in the computer too long" or "being stressed out" or "not going to the park"
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#8And as usual with this issue, this post shows little understanding of depression. > There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni ne…
Getting help is goal number one. However leading a more balanced life helps tremendously with preventing and maintaining some mental issues associated with thousands of hours of intellectually intense work. I feel strongly the above suggestions of spending more time outdoors, meeting new people etc are much more than "just cheer up" advice.
The problem with that kind of advice is that doing those things (spending time outdoors, meeting new people) require willpower, and being depressed, or anxious, or in a number of other states of mind, saps your willpower, and therefore your ability to execute on any of these suggestions.
Practical suggestions are the kind of things a therapist will recommend when you do seek help: cognitive behavioral therapy, or pharmacological solutions. They're practical because talking to someone on a set schedule every week, or taking a pill on a set schedule every day, requires much less willpower than the things people usually suggest, but has effects which increase your willpower, and thus your capacity for attempting those other things.
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#9It's hard to disagree with the general sentiment, but trading a life for a computing project is not really what happened here. Software development does not cause mental illness. In some cases, stressful jobs contribute to a person's mental degradation - but it's not like there was ever an option of trading in this guys passion for technology in exchange for a healthy brain.
That's a false dichotomy. The author of the article is suggesting you can trade obsession with technology for a healthier brain, and that this trade may have cost a life in this instance. Also, passion need not be obsession.
Re: Garzik: An Andre To Remember
#10And as usual with this issue, this post shows little understanding of depression. > There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni ne…
What do we mean by "seek help"?
Currently, we have two gold standard treatments, SSRI drugs and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
SSRI drugs probably sort of work a bit, depending on how much weight you place on non-publication bias. The most flattering data suggests that SSRIs beat placebo by about 30%, meaning that over 75% of the effect of SSRIs is accounted for by placebo - the patient's own beliefs about the efficacy of the treatment.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is based upon the idea that a patient can learn to think differently about daily events and their emotional responses to them, and in doing so improve their overall mood and reduce specific symptoms of psychological distress. The entire basis for CBT is the idea that people control their own moods through cognition, with the goal of making the patient self-sufficient in managing their mood. The notion that only clinical intervention can improve depressive symptoms directly contradicts the most effective treatment for depression.
In the best case, either of these treatments is only marginally more efficacious than arbitrary interventions that generally improve wellbeing - exercise, better diet, mindfulness practice etc.
There is simply no scientific basis for arguing that depression can only be alleviated through clinical intervention. Study after study has shown (though rarely highlighted in the abstract) that placebo is an incredibly powerful treatment for depression, to the extent that basically anything is a good treatment so log as the patient believes in it.
The belief that clinical intervention is the only way to improve depressive symptoms is at best inaccurate and baseless, at worst actively harmful. It is an irrational and essentially depressive belief and propagating it runs counter to all our interests.