[_lqdo]

>>One of the biggest force multipliers in overcoming depression

One of the biggest force multipliers for me was accepting myself the way I am, and living with my depression. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, PTSD, and Bipolar. I've been on several SSRIs for a year, but I've quit it all. I found out that drugs are good to calm me down, but they make me so normal to the point of boredom. I could no longer hyper-focus to build/design products.

When I researched it I found out that creativity is strongly linked to depression. It made sense...I couldn't imagine Picasso, Kakfka, Shakespeare, and all the creative great thinkers/artists living a life like not-depressed-people.

When my doctor, and the head of the Psychiatrist dept tried to influence my decision I said that I love myself when I hyper-focus.

I love it when I'm randomly strolling the streets thinking about all the silly things other people think I'm wasting my time thinking about.

I love it when I read the depressing thoughts/ideas of great philosophers like Russell, Wittgenstein, and Kant.

I love it when I look at depressing paintings by Munch, Picasso, and Van Gogh.

It remains one of life mysteries to me why we are trained to reject depression and loneliness..why we, hackers and artists, are trained to live by unwritten rules of how we should live our lives..

“Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.” ― Nikola Tesla.

[cairo_x]

You were prescribed SSRIs with a Bipolar diagnosis!?

[_lqdo]

No, that was for depression and ptsd. I stopped seeing my doctor when he told me he thinks I have bipolar.

[cairo_x]

Ah. As someone who went through the same thing (minus the ptsd), next time you get in a bad mental spot go see a psychiatrist and tell them about the bipolar diagnosis. There are some very mild mood stabilizers out there nowadays that don't zombify you. (SSRI's can trigger manic episodes and cycling in people with bipolar, fyi).

Also just making sure you don't trying and deliberately alter your moods with caffeine, weed, or amphetamines will keep you relatively stable (even without drugs). Although if you start having a full blown episode it's worth keeping what I said above in mind.

Sorry if the advice is unwelcome. This is just what I found helpful.

People with bipolar often use caffeine, weed, or even amphetamines to deliberately trigger hypomania. Feels good, but unfortunately it also increases the frequency of depressed episodes. It's like Karma.