The unfortunate reality is that in 2014 we don’t have a good treatment for depression, let alone a solid science-based definition of what we are trying to fix. There are many ways of contextualizing human unease and cognitive discomfort. “Depression” is the current label in a medical context for pervasive unhappiness, yet it’s not one with a clear biological underpinning. To this, I think it can be advantageous to avoid self-identifying as “depressed”, as I suspect it’s not uncommon for many venturing down the psycho-therapudic/pharmalogical wormhole in search of Help to end up endlessly suspended in a search for a ‘cure’ like this author. Another similar account which comes to mind is Daphne Merkins’ “My life in Therapy” which was published in the NYT a few years back: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/magazine/08Psychoanalysis-...
I spent many years myself searching for a magic pill or something to cure me of my "depression", which of course I didn't find, and all that did was reinforce my belief in my own inability to deal with life.
Sad story. I wonder whether he might have benefitted from a mindfulness based therapy. Unfortunately, some depressions are more difficult to treat than others. Very qualified doctors that I know would disagree with the notion that "it’s still not clear that [antidepressants] are better than placebos." They would argue that antidepressants are overprescribed to people that do not in fact have biological depression, lowering the effectiveness rate. Lastly, it should be noted that ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), is actually one of the most effective treatments for depression, and one that carries minimal harmful side effects (although short-term memory loss is one such side effect).
As someone with depression, it's clear to me that our knowledge of mental health is where medicine was in the late 1700s. We know that certain treatments work for certain people, in certain situations, but we don't have the theoretical frameworks to figure out where to experiment further. Reading the psych. literature, it really feels like a lot of the science in that field is just random shots in the dark. When certain therapies or substances work well, we don't why they work and in what circumstances they won't.
IMHO, psychology is still waiting for its "germ theory" moment.
ECT offers a very poor trade-off -- potentially irreversible brain damage and mental dysfunction in exchange for the docility and temporary emotional blunting or euphoria that result from the damage.
Having wrestled with severe depression for many years, I've learned a few things.
1) There is hope! Don't give up.
2) Many people will not understand. That's okay.
3) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works. It's hard work, but it's easier than having depression and anxiety. It's really about renewing your mind. Best book on the subject is an old one: http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/03808...
4) You have to find help from others. You will likely run into quacks, and well-meaning but unhelpful advisers. Don't give up.
I've read Feeling Good, and found many of its basic premises to be flawed. Conscious thoughts aren't, as Burns claims, always a leading cause of bad feelings. Biological, hereditary, and environmental factors can have a large effect on mood. Burns believes negative thinking patterns are 'distorted', and we can ameliorate depression by 'correcting' them. Several studies have shown that the depressed people are actually more, not less, likely to appraise situations accurately. http://nuweb9.neu.edu/personalitylab/wp-content/uploads/Tayl...
Out of curiosity, who did you find that was able to help you?
The author makes the best point. That from his work environment and its union he was supported. Depression may be a fairly normal thing, which some people go through from time to time. It becomes a whole different problem when the individual is not supported and starts a spiral out of available support. Because of his degree, even though he didn't apply it directly, he gained access to a job he wasn't motivated by and substantial benefits. Some may say the answer is to get that degree, regardless of its applicability, to gain access to the club, but others will see the real problem this indirect solution creates for the vast majority of people.
It bemuses me that on HN, people push for CBT, positive thinking, more time spent on exercises, relationships, basically all of the outward signals of American professional and social-media "well-being."
What needs to be mentioned is that the author despite his professed history of severe clinical depression, is a published author of somewhat notability, whose last book was vouched by James Wood, the literary critic of New Yorker. And despite whatever professed outward collective-mentality present in IT, I know that many of my friends and co-workers suffer from existential doubts, personal isolation and obsessive-compulsive behaviors in private, if not more so. If anything, the fact that the author chooses to share his personal history so openly makes me more comfortable about his handling of personal issues than others who lead double of lives and "#winning on facebook" and "suffering alone."
"But we are mistaken when we interpret anxiety and other forms of existential disorientation as being at odds with a well-lived life. It may well be that they are an essential part of such a life."
>"But we are mistaken when we interpret anxiety and other forms of existential disorientation as being at odds with a well-lived life. It may well be that they are an essential part of such a life."
If existential anxiety is part of a well-lived life, then by definition, why does everyone seem to prefer not to have existential anxiety?
[+] [-] brookside|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pc2g4d|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] csdrane|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quanticle|11 years ago|reply
IMHO, psychology is still waiting for its "germ theory" moment.
[+] [-] Hydraulix989|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] milesf|11 years ago|reply
1) There is hope! Don't give up.
2) Many people will not understand. That's okay.
3) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works. It's hard work, but it's easier than having depression and anxiety. It's really about renewing your mind. Best book on the subject is an old one: http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/03808...
4) You have to find help from others. You will likely run into quacks, and well-meaning but unhelpful advisers. Don't give up.
[+] [-] brookside|11 years ago|reply
Out of curiosity, who did you find that was able to help you?
[+] [-] davidy123|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] noname123|11 years ago|reply
What needs to be mentioned is that the author despite his professed history of severe clinical depression, is a published author of somewhat notability, whose last book was vouched by James Wood, the literary critic of New Yorker. And despite whatever professed outward collective-mentality present in IT, I know that many of my friends and co-workers suffer from existential doubts, personal isolation and obsessive-compulsive behaviors in private, if not more so. If anything, the fact that the author chooses to share his personal history so openly makes me more comfortable about his handling of personal issues than others who lead double of lives and "#winning on facebook" and "suffering alone."
As another perspective on depression and anxiety counter to the HN's mainstream answer, I highly recommend "Happiness and Its Discontent" essay here (http://chronicle.com/article/HappinessIts-Discontents/144019...)
"But we are mistaken when we interpret anxiety and other forms of existential disorientation as being at odds with a well-lived life. It may well be that they are an essential part of such a life."
[+] [-] eli_gottlieb|11 years ago|reply
If existential anxiety is part of a well-lived life, then by definition, why does everyone seem to prefer not to have existential anxiety?