[protothomas]

A well written and brutally honest article - the author should be commended as this kind of honesty is what's needed in beginning to address mental health issues. I did feel the last throwaway point "don't date the crazy chick" let it down slightly - by his own hypothesis she too was suffering (bad) mental health issues and blithely shifting blame to her seems a little off.

[watty]

I'm curious what kind of drugs were involved. Crazy chick, traveling the world, doing shamanistic rituals (which often use drugs), sleep depriving oneself until hallucinating, etc.

He doesn't say it outright but had he not taken part in these damaging things, he may not have had the psychotic episode and wouldn't know he was bipolar.

http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/advice/a14193/ayah...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2521132/DMT-spirit-m...

[bshimmin]

I thought this too, I won't deny it. I suppose two counterpoints would be:

1) If you really can work days and days on end without feeling tired or feeling the need for sleep (as someone who works very, very excessive hours, I can safely say I spend most of that time yearning for my bed), in all likelihood you are going to come crashing down at some point;

2) You can definitely start hallucinating purely from lack of sleep, after "only" a couple of days, without the assistance of any hallucinogenic drugs.

[metasean]

I've never done illegal drugs, but for years suffered with depression and occasional had "amazingly productive" periods.

After one particularly bad bout of depression, I decided to see a doctor. One of her questions was something to the effect, "Has anyone ever accused you of having been on drugs when you weren't?"

The funny thing is, during one of my previous "amazingly productive" periods, I had a coworker who -point blank- told me she was convinced that I was on drugs. I just felt high on life and told her as much.

The doctor ultimately diagnosed me as bi-polar, and we found a drug that would reduce the depression and not trigger hypermania or manic episodes (apparently a common problem with drugs that treat regular depression is that they can exacerbate bi-polar).

Fast forward a few years and I had to have knee surgery. Thankfully, my mother was taking care of me and knew I had been diagnosed bi-polar, but I'd never had a full blown manic, so she didn't know what that looked like. It took three days for her to realize what was wrong, but almost immediately after the surgery I had slipped into a full-blown manic. In the end, it turned out the pain medication and the bi-polar medication combined were triggering the manic episode.

I've since had to have several other surgeries and have learned that strong pain killers have a tendency to trigger manic episodes in me. In a way I'm lucky, because I've never gotten addicted to any pain killer, and I'm coherent enough to let my providers know whether I need manic-inducing pain killers (i.e. I rather be manic than in that much pain), whether I can take less effective pain killers that don't trigger manic episodes, and when I can just suck up the pain.

So, yes, drugs can trigger episodes, but it isn't necessarily illegal or 'bad' drugs that do so.

[Muromec]

Shamanic rituals just screams "shrooms".

[alva]

s/crazy chick/crazy dude/

Having a partner of either sex that also suffers mental illness (perhaps more severely than you do) can exacerbate un-healthy or unhelpful ways of thinking.

I don't think the writer was placing entire blame with the partner, but actually making a good point earlier about the psychological reinforcement from being around them

[afarrell]

I also suspect that this is the same person mentioned here: http://www.kennethreitz.org/essays/purging-the-unexpected-ne...

For many guys, "crazy chick" is the only language they have to describe an abusive relationship. It's not the most helpful phrase, so it's best replaced with a clearer one.

[RodericDay]

I thought it was amazing that Reitz volunteered an article such as this.

I wish he would change the reference to "crazy chick". Cause maybe some "crazy chicks" out there would benefit from the article (my mom suffered from an episode like the one he described, down to the angels).

I think it's particularly bad because a lot of people, such as my mom and sister, make the association that crazy is "how they are" because they are "artsy". And so, this article is demolishing that notion, since Reitz is such a tech superstar... but then it ends like that. Reinforcing the gap.

[kenneth_reitz]

It is the same person, but I wasn't referencing her in that manner here. Just saying "that loopy/nuts self-described yogini-shaman-spinner-of-bhakti here to raise the frequencies of the earth through x y z".

[chris_wot]

I am so sorry this happened to you. I have lived with someone who has narcissistic personality disorder, or at least borderline narcissistic personality disorder and it almost destroyed the dynamics of our share house.

That person has since got help. I've also cut them off, though I still communicate with them. They've asked for forgiveness, which I've given. But I don't have the strength in my current situation to engage with them in more than superficial ways.

Just be thankful you didn't encounter a psychopath - I believe there is a big overlap I the two conditions, it a psychopath is far, far more frightening and even more destructive.

[ronjouch]

> I don't think the writer was placing entire blame with the partner, but actually making a good point earlier about the psychological reinforcement from being around them

This. To badly reformulate a similar article found here (for which I can't recollect the author, sorry... maybe Glyph or Sivers?), "We are not islands, your close friends and loved ones kinda have root access to your brain. Given enough time / frequence, their own attitudes / biases / psychological problems become yours. And conversely, you'll inherit some of their strengths."

→ To come back to Kenneth's mention of the "crazy chick",

- It doesn't have to be framed negatively (interpreting it as Kenneth saying "damn crazy chick, she's the one to blame").

- Rather, maybe a more positive frame involving our own responsibility helps: "try as much as possible to surround yourself with sane, stable, caring people".

EDIT: hi downvoters, I'm surprised, care to elaborate?

[patio11]

That may have been me?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9910380

Why? Your peer group literally gets arbitrary code execution on your brain. (It's a flaw in MonkeyBrainOS 1.01 which we haven't patched yet.) You'll tend to find yourself valuing what they value. You will tend to find yourself achieving outcomes strikingly similar to their outcomes.

Given this, picking a peer group whose values are not your values and whose outcomes are terrible is a poor choice.

[pnathan]

By the way, Patrick - that's a really great quote; you could turn it into a super helpful essay/blogpost. I occasionally think of it as I interact with people who are choosing peer groups with poor outcomes.

[CPLX]

That is a remarkably pithy observation.

[ronjouch]

YES! Thanks :)

[CraigJPerry]

I read it as light humour. The tone of that line is very much in keeping with his humorous points in past writings (and code).

I don't know Kenneth but I've read enough of his writing to recognise his style.

I genuinely believe the grandparent is doing Kenneth a disservice here.

[RodericDay]

Many people read stuff that he advocates against, like "real hardcore engineers don't sleep", as "light humour".

It's cool that you recognize his voice, but if this article takes off because of its interdisciplinary nature, it is likely to get an audience that isn't composed exclusively of people who know his style.