[jpxxx]

I don't appreciate some self-loathing bitch drafting on my thoughts for misanthropy points.

You know what sucks worse than trying to find competent professional medical attention in America? Blowing your head off with a gun and leaving your decomposing meat for someone to find and clean up. Those are the stakes here.

This author wrote a novella about watching his life reduce to nothing, then wrapped it in a wordpress, threw a vanity domain up, and submitted it to a hivemind. If it was about the quaint, quirky charms of a minimalist lifestyle then you special electronic snowflakes could give each other all the handjobs you want and nobody would mind.

But as this piece documents severe emotional trauma from a childhood marked by abandonment, drug abuse, emotional abuse, (and probably sexual/physical violence) it seems to -me- that he needs help, is looking for social oxygen, and is trying to figure his situation out.

It's not a pretty picture, and the more he rambles about how his sister won't let him eat ice cream the more confused he's going to be about the issues in his life and the fundamental plumbing in his head. Don't confuse depression with a lifestyle choice.

[javajosh]

Of all the people replying to this thread, your responses are filled with the most love. Your anger shows that you care - and I don't think you're too off-base with your assessment, either.

I think I can help you with your message in some small way by noting that social integration is not good because it's 'normal'. It's good because it's vitally necessary for survival. Human society is entirely synthetic, artificial. We are born depending on others. The doctor. The hospital. Our mothers. We are raised depending on others: the teacher, our classmates, our siblings. We live in structures built by others eating food grown by others.

The interesting contradiction here is between Ken's desire to make money and his desire to withdraw from the world. These are totally incompatible desires. One of them has to give. And given that 'not making money' means, essentially, starvation and death, it suggests that perhaps he should rethink the normalcy of withdrawing so completely from the world.

I would only add this argument to yours, not replace it. Thanks for your comments.

[klibertp]

"And given that 'not making money' means, essentially, starvation and death"

I can't even begin to imagine where do you live to have that drastic views...

[dromidas]

Just because you're a shut in doesn't mean you're depressed. Most people are incredibly vapid. I don't like interacting with most people because of this reason. Being a shut in is not as depressing as it seems. Perhaps you are an extrovert and simply cannot comprehend this.

[jpxxx]

"People are generally worthless, unlike me." Check.

[dromidas]

That is really what a lot of introverts feel. It's okay if you are uncomfortable with that. We can recognize our own so in case it was not obvious that it was a blanket statement, let me just say "it was a blanket statement".

[obstacle1]

Everything past 3/4ths down in the article is explicitly about the author's self-described depression.

[undupe]

It sounds like you're replying more to feed your ego as an expert advisor full of "tough love," rather than to actually help OP. There's no better way to steel a depressed person's resolve to stay depressed than to criticize him further and to not listen to him. You're telling him exactly that ("TL;DR"), that he is not worth listening to.

[jpxxx]

Egotistical self-serving tough love vendor? Guilty as charged. But he now has a googleable term for something that's undoubtedly been causing him grief and unexpected outcomes in life, and that's probably the best I can do from where I sit.

[Domenic_S]

Well said. I want to add a couple comments:

-For some people, writing it all out is therapeutic. That's probably the best time (most suggestible time) to suggest therapy.

-CBT is useful, and the #1 long-term cure for depression. A good CBT therapist is what the author should look for.

-Author is making plans for the future, which is a good sign that things aren't totally dire right now.

[cryowaffle]

Please, tell us how you really feel :). Good work, I hope this gets back to OP.