Addressing Founder Depression – YC Hackathon project

I've been reading about founder's depression. Why do we have to label it as if this is something that is affecting founders. Depression affects everyone, from a single mother who works hard to support her family and has no time for herself. From the dad that works hard and has to put kids through school, put food on the table, the person who works behind the counter at your favorite burger place who works hard and can't pay for his/her school because they don't make enough money.

I suffer from depression and I am not a founder we all have issues so why do we have to label this depression and founder's depression. These people are no different that anyone else just different problems.

seems like we should actually be doing something to help people with depression and not just a certain group just because they are founders. After all depression is the same regardless if you are a founder, a manager, a business owner, a student.

It's hard to criticize well-intentioned efforts, but I think it's worth noting that there are a lot of assumptions being made about "founder depression."

Depression is often confused with anxiety disorders, and complicating matters, it's not uncommon for these to be co-occurring. A lot of the symptoms described in the recent posts by Sam Altman and TechCrunch on "founder depression" actually sound more like symptoms of anxiety disorders than they do symptoms of clinical depression.

Before an individual jumps to the conclusion that he or she is suffering from depression, it would be wise to seek help from a mental health professional who can make a proper diagnosis.

Hi there, I'm on the YC Hacks team working on this. I agree that "founder depression" is somewhat vague and potentially confusing in describing what we're doing. The intent is simply to anonymously connect people who are going through similar situations, whether positive or negative, in order to edify and support one another.

Based on both anecdotal evidence and recent articles, it seems as though people in the startup community often don't have many compassionate outlets they can leverage to talk to others who are either going through something similar or have gone through something similar before. By finding someone relatable to share experiences or learnings, they can release some of the pent-up emotion or frustration that they have and be able to move forward.

Furthermore, this is not designed to replace working with a mental health professional--not in the slightest! This is more purpose-built around finding peers who have the right context to really understand or comment on what you're going through and empathize. This isn't meant to be a counseling service.

Completely -- that was one of our inspirations.

> Based on both anecdotal evidence and recent articles, it seems as though people in the startup community often don't have many compassionate outlets they can leverage to talk to others who are either going through something similar or have gone through something similar before.

There's a huge difference between providing an outlet for startup founders to commiserate with each other and providing an outlet for individuals who believe they're suffering from depression to obtain support. Again, it's hard to criticize well-intentioned efforts, but my (hopefully) constructive criticism is that you seem to be blurring the lines. You can build a useful founder support network without focusing on depression.

Clinical depression is a disorder that has a variety of causes. Some of them are social or psychological, but there may also be biochemical causes. A startup founder's depression may have less to do with his or her startup experience than one might think, in which case focusing on this part of the person's life could be more harmful than helpful.

An individual who may be suffering from clinical depression (or an anxiety disorder) should be encouraged to obtain a professional diagnosis, and treatment should be guided by a professional whom that individual trusts.

> This isn't meant to be a counseling service.

Easily said, but harder to enforce. Case in point: one of the services you're considering using, 7 Cups of Tea, is positioned as an online counseling/therapy portal.