[paulrademacher]

And 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.

[jdietrich]

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.

http://ccdan.cochrane.org/

[DanBC]

Exercise is not an "arbitrary" intervention, because it also has an evidence base.

Starting someone on a course of CBT (whether applied by a skilled practitioner, or self guided[1]) and then pushing them to exercise and to social life improvement, with meds if needed, is an excellent treatment.

[vacri]

Going to someone to hear them say "exercise and improve your diet" is "seeking help".

[spaghetti]

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.

[derefr]

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.

[trafficlight]

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.

[vacri]

I've studied mental illness formally and suffer from some mild clinical depression myself. It's my sincere opinion that people simply can't understand mental illness unless they have properly studied it or have direct personal experience (including by proxy). It just doesn't fit into the uninitiated's picture of the world.

That being said, although the article doesn't show a deep understanding of mental illness, the things he mentions in the last paragraph can help ameliorate depression. One of the big problems is that it's really hard for a mentally ill person to motivate themselves to try to fix things - mental illness is really insidious; even if you know you have an illness, you may not realise you're having an episode.

[raverbashing]

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"

[epaik]

Indeed, Andre's symptoms seem to match more of an onset of paranoid schizophrenia rather than depression.

Unfortunately, it seems that genetics is a key factor of causing mental illness, rather than the time you spend on the computer. So even if you're the healthiest person physically, you can still be at risk of a mental disorder...

[neutronicus]

Anecdotally, I've found exercise very helpful.

[tsahyt]

Exercise seems to work because it allows us to switch our brains off and concentrate on our bodies. I like to see it as a way to give your brain room to breathe.

Reminds me, I need to work out and free my mind more often :)

[sidcool]

It's saddening that people scrutinize everything literally and give opinions out of context. It's sometimes OK not to be scathingly logical and objective. We are humans, subjective and emotional beings, not binary numbers.