
Ask HN: How do you deal with mental illness? - time_management
I used to have panic disorder, which I've essentially squashed through meditation practice. Panic cost me a job and a relationship, but I seem to have trained my mind well-enough of late to have PD in permanent remission.<p>I also tend to be mildly bipolar. I'm not diagnosed, but I've known myself to be cyclothymic since 13. I treat this as a spiritual and personal challenge. It only affects me 10-15 days out of the average year, and it allows me to have experiences that most people never will, so I regard it as a blessing, though a mixed one.<p>I'm extremely sensitive to light, sound, and drugs. I don't use recreational drugs, and "social drinking" is out of the question because a 5-year-old could drink me under the table. (I love beer, but I probably drink 1-2 per month.) The high school cafeteria was torture, because lunch was the main social context of that era, and I wanted to be a "normal kid" but the intensely loud noise rendered me a social cripple.<p>My most beautiful but also damaging mental quirk, however, is probably hypergraphia. I don't think I have OCD, but I have an intense compulsion to write. I'm good at it. I can pound out 2000 words of coherent English prose in half an hour. Unfortunately, it can be a bit dicey. When I had a blog, I'd inevitably find myself posting inappropriate personal confessions on it... hence the reason I do not have a blog. I've ruined relationships with brutally honest emails. I also used to have a "flame habit"; I was addicted to the flow state I could attain by launching offensive/provocative discussions on Internet message boards (that was before I came here) and watching hundreds of people react. Some of these online misbehaviors have been tied to my real name but, worse yet, the "troll" era has cost me an immense amount of time that could have been better employed.<p>If I could divert the hypergraphic tendency into a more precise (and, frankly, often more useful) form of writing-- code-- I would be able to go from a 5-6 hacker to a 8-9 in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately, I haven't refined this mental quirk to such a degree yet. Does anyone have any suggestions?<p>What mental challenges have you faced, and how have you dealt with them?
======
singleserving
I have had a pretty serious depression that lasted for around two years, and
am still trying to get out of it. I've noticed that depression, and probably
other mental states, is something you don't see in other people unless you
have had similar experiences yourself. Now I can see that friends of mine have
gone through a depression by the cues they have left, but I would never have
noticed this before - if you haven't been there yourself you won't see it.

I'm pretty sure that mental problems of one sort or another are much more
common than you would expect, but it's one of those things that it is still a
taboo, so you never know how widespread it is. So you should know that you
aren't alone at all. Almost everyone has to go through one or more major
crises in their life.

As to how to move on I think you're on the right track - accept your mental
state and whatever baggage you have and start working with it. Once you accept
that you are what you are and that this is OK you are halfway there. Next make
sure you have friends or family you can talk to. They'll tell you that they
love you no matter what, and that if you were different you wouldn't be you.

Accepting who you are is much harder for you than it is for the people around
you. Judging by your post it looks like you're well on the way to acceptance
of yourself. I'm sure you'll be OK.

I'm posting this under a single serving account made for this purpose because
I'm a regular cotributor here and don't need to have my personal life and
problems all out in the open, but if you want to contact me let me know in the
comments and I'll reply by mail.

------
dangrover
This is a topic worth discussion -- I bet a lot of people here have some of
these issues.

For your writing, I'd suggest continuing it, but putting it into some kind of
"buffer" so that it doesn't get immediately posted to your blog. Then trim it
down to the best, most polished entries, and pass it through some friends to
review before being published. I think PG does something like this for his
more significant/weighty essays.

------
jawngee
I too have panic disorder, OCD, PTSD and mild depression. I also used to be
hypervigilant and a hypochondriac. Being hypervigilant means that you are
constantly monitoring your body for signs that something massive is wrong. I
used to get a mild chest pain and would turn that into angina. Or I'd get a
headache and convince myself it was a tumor. Fucking miserable.

I've been battling the panic disorder for the last 7 years or so. PTSD for the
last 15 and everything else since day 1.

I have one recommendation for you and it's cognitive behavioral therapy, aka
CBT. It's less talking about all the stupid shit your parents did, and more
about changing how you think about these particular issues.

I did my fair share of medications (nothing too major, ad's like effexor and
zoloft and benzo's like ativan, klonopin and xanax) but I don't do any of them
anymore thanks to CBT therapy and the growing understanding that everything is
temporary. When you're facing down a vicious panic attack, considering a call
to 911, I've found I can stop the entire process in it's tracks by simply
acknowledging that this is all temporary and transient. Sounds so simple, but
it's so very hard to do. Takes a lot of practice.

I've beaten the mild depression by forcing myself out amongst humans and
participating with people socially. Really, anything that puts you out of your
head.

My two secret weapons, beyond CBT therapy, have been marijuana and poker.
Poker has definitely hardened me quite a bit, but more importantly it's helped
me grow my own power base. Any activity that satiates ego is good for people
like us.

Marijuana, counter intuitive since it typically promotes anxiety in people,
has really kept me out of my head for the most part and definitely greases the
wheels in terms of accepting my lot in life and the issues that I deal with
day in and day out. It really is my Adderall. I can't wait for it to be
decriminalized.

Finally, the biggest thing I did to change it all around was quitting smoking
tobacco. That one single thing probably caused the biggest change out of all
the things I've tried.

Anyways, hope that helps.

------
sethg
I know nothing about hypergraphia, but I question the assumption that your
desire to write could be "channeled" into coding. I don't think it's
necessarily true that two _superficially_ similar activities are really
scratching the same psychological itch.

 _When I had a blog, I'd inevitably find myself posting inappropriate personal
confessions on it... hence the reason I do not have a blog. I've ruined
relationships with brutally honest emails._

This makes me suspect that your itch is not _writing_ per se but _self-
revelation_. Have you tried taking up painting or sculpture or some other art
form as a hobby, so that you can express your feelings in a way that gives you
more plausible deniability, so to speak?

Or learn a conlang and make your inappropriate personal confessions in a
language that only ten or twenty other people in the world can read fluently.
:-/

~~~
nihilocrat
I find it really odd and a little embarassing that part of my fascination with
languages (including conlangs) comes from the ability to say things that the
people around me will not understand. It's sort of a combination of
intentionally alienating myself from others and being able to say what I feel
like saying and knowing others will be too ignorant to understand.

I used to make up "alphabets" as a kid. As I learned more about linguistics
and writing systems, I even got as far as making something vaugely like Korean
script, where several sub-characters form one larger block character which all
add up to one syllable. I wrote things in these alphabets, but never disclosed
the meaning to anyone else. I never really got obsessive about it, though, but
if I had a harsher childhood I have a feeling I would have written entire
journals in it.

------
KevBurnsJr
_"The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success."_

~~~
Allocator2008
Eliot Carver of the newspaper 'Tomorrow' said that as I recall. I heartily
concur!

------
strlen
Is your mental illness diagnosed (other than a self-diagnosis). I am _not_
implying at all that you are, but am merely posting this for the community's
sake: mental illness is serious (much like any other illness) so if you do
seriously suspect mental (or other) illness seek professional diagnosis.

(It could also reveal that the symptoms are that of a physical illness, at
times with an easy cure: I've a friend who experienced anxiety/OCD issues but
the doctor recommended that he instead take up exercise and get fresh air
which essentially wiped these issues away).

------
StrawberryFrog
It makes some sense that serious trolls are mentally ill.

~~~
time_management
I was part of a somewhat well-known troll group for 2+ years, and trolled
independently for 7. Your observation is correct, but for most of us, trolling
was by far the most insane thing about us. Some serious time goes into the
sport, and people've lost relationships and jobs over the time put into the
game, and there are often reputation consequences for those who are caught.
It's like World of Warcraft. Most of these people are fine "sane" people,
capable of functioning at high levels and having normal relationships, except
for the fact of being addicted to a compelling alternate reality. The
difference is that WoW is a Skinner Box designed to be addictive whereas
hypergraphic trolling is entirely emergent from transgressive behavior, but
just as engrossing.

The other surprising thing about trolls is that they tend to come from very
high-achieving and wealthy families. My father's an a high-ranking civil
servant, my parents make $150k/year, and I was the "poor" in my troll group.

I always trolled ethically, though. No racism, no attacks on real-life non-
participants except public figures who really deserved it, and no more
misogyny than would be appropriate to the 18-year-old self that was the basis
for one of my favorite troll personalities (ironically, named after a synonym
for "thoughtful"; ok, I'm outed).

~~~
bd
_"The other surprising thing about trolls is that they tend to come from very
high-achieving and wealthy families."_

Is it really that much surprising? Trolling would fit well with the stereotype
of "spoiled rich kids". No offense meant.

~~~
time_management
_No offense meant._

None taken. It's true.

------
ChaitanyaSai
How did you get into meditation? What kind of meditation do you practice?

~~~
qaexl
The buddahnet.net looks like it has some pretty good information.

For a different take, check out Anne Wise's "High Performance Mind"
[http://www.amazon.com/High-Performance-Mind-Anna-
Wise/dp/087...](http://www.amazon.com/High-Performance-Mind-Anna-
Wise/dp/0874778506)

The former focuses on a form of meditation called mindfulness. It lets you be
more present without the distractions of the monkey mind. It means that when
you start coding, you don't easily follow the distractions that keep you from
coding.

The latter focuses on the different states of mind, running the gamut from
wakefulness all the way to deep sleep. You learn how to access each of those
states at-will. There is a bigger emphasis on guided meditation (as opposed to
mindfulness) and includes techniques on dealing with what comes up from the
subconscious. The book includes both theory and practices, and is definitely
hackable.

Both approaches complement each other, though both will require practice. If
one doesn't work initially, I recommend trying the other. The resulting skill
is worth the effort.

Whether you are practicing mindfulness or using guided meditation, I recommend
timeboxing your meditation, either by getting a kitchen timer or using
incense. Without timeboxing, it is unlikely you will be able to relax deeply
enough -- some part of you will keep thinking there is something else to do.
If you've never done this before, I'd start with 5 mins a day, work your way
up to 10, then 30 mins. 5 mins of mindfulness practice is a very long time for
someone conditioned to 30 second attention spans. The key is daily practice.

~~~
ChaitanyaSai
Thanks!

~~~
moxy
Here's the audiobook version (courtesy of RapidShare):

[http://rapidshare.com/files/106778954/HIGH_PERFORMANCE_MIND....](http://rapidshare.com/files/106778954/HIGH_PERFORMANCE_MIND.part1.rar)
[http://rapidshare.com/files/106839635/HIGH_PERFORMANCE_MIND....](http://rapidshare.com/files/106839635/HIGH_PERFORMANCE_MIND.part2.rar)

------
ekpyrotic
I've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I just wait and persevere.

I've had to wait through dark times: hoping the suicidal thoughts will go;
hoping the crying will stop; hoping I won't take the final step.

And, then, hoping the good will never leave; hoping my thoughts will continue
to accelerate; hoping the pen won't stop; hoping the music in my head won't
slow; hoping to dance, and wanting to run forever.

I don't deal with it, I just live with it.

------
kylec
_I have an intense compulsion to write. I'm good at it. I can pound out 2000
words of coherent English prose in half an hour._

I wish I could do that. I always found writing for my English classes was
incredibly difficult, especially as the length requirements grew.

~~~
Chocobean
Kylec, as a programmer you should be already really awesome with logic,
organising information into structured flowcharts and be able to abstract
information into skeletal frame. You know how PG's essays are pretty long but
they go from start to finish with clarity of direction and logic? I'm pretty
sure you can write well too, because you can code, and because you mentioned
"length" as the difficulty, not grammar or spelling or your stuff not making
any sense. Maybe you just haven't had a really good english teacher back in
HS, don't let that limit you. Take a writer's workshop or join a toastmasters.
Hmmm is it possible to start a HN writing group?

Writing was my best talent ( _cough_ was _cough_ ) before i found programming.
I believe there's some inherit link between the two.

~~~
kylec
My main problem has been that after I say everything that I want to say I
still have several pages to fill. I imagine this would be like asking a
programmer to deliver a 2000 line program that the programmer can write in
200. It could be a psychological revulsion to waste (using more words/lines
than are needed) or it could be that I don't have sufficient depth in my
thinking to produce the volume of content needed to explore the topic. Either
way, I think that I've probably seen the last of my mandatory minimum page
lengths, so I'm not particularly worried about it. Still, it would have been a
nice skill to have back in high school.

~~~
SapphireSun
I used to run into that roadblock before. I find that what you can do is look
at the ideas you started with and what you have written and then make sure
that all your points are sufficiently proven. There is almost always some
finer detail you can elaborate on (for instance by adding an example or two)
and if it doesn't quite fit, you can delegate it to end notes or foot notes.

Sometimes, it really is waste and you have to hit the deadline, but other
times it can make your piece a lot more interesting.

------
tricky
Don't suppress your intense compulsion to write just because it got you into
trouble a few times... It is a gift. Manage it.

1\. Always send your stuff to a few friends before you hit the publish button.

2\. Don't write inappropriate personal confessions. Invent a character, have
them live the inappropriateness and call it fiction.

Edit: 3. Revise the shiz out of your work until it is good enough that others
can enjoy reading it.

------
notmyrealname
Currently facing a massive challenge, and I have no idea of how to deal with
it; to put it simply (but still very accurately), if you put me in jail for a
few years with a computer and full internet access, it'd be pretty much the
same as it is for me now.

The only reason I'm still sane is the internet, but that can't help xmas being
very, very lonely. I dream of the day I get my life back. :)

------
anonymousdude
My girlfriend is bipolar. I met her when she was going through a medication
change, which was not fun, and she recently had to take a year off from school
to deal with her condition, which was hard. She seems to be doing much better
and things have calmed down with her.

I've heard some people say that it's not worth it, since those kinds of things
"never go away", but she means a lot to me. I feel that mental illness is only
one aspect of such a person, with pluses and minuses (one such plus being that
it makes her a stronger person).

A huge number of people at my school have Asburger's, and many are on meds for
it. I've seen a lot of them become much more stable and balanced people,
mostly because of increased exposure to people like them as well as normal
people.

Personally, I've found I've developed a very high tolerance to people with
personality quirks.

------
pragmatic
Have you been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS)? Many of these problems
sound like symptoms of AS. Many, many programmers have AS (it seems computers
were made by and for people with AS (see the book below)). I've worked with
several whom I suspected but weren't formally diagnosed. They were miserable
because the couldn't understand how to deal with people on a functional level.

The key is to understand the root of the problem. Some of the coworkers would
be diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and the like while AS was the
painfully obvious condition (though anxiety, etc are very common in those with
AS).

Read this book ASAP: The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood
<http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book.php/isbn/9781843104957>

~~~
time_management
Quite possibly a mild case of AS. I was socially awkward as a kid, most of my
friends in high school were IM/online friends, and I didn't have a serious
girlfriend until after college. I'm "class of 23" although that could have
been earlier if I were an unscrupulous person.

I had a social growth spurt recently (girlfriend dumped me, health problems
went away, much better job, developed the will to learn social skills
previously neglected) which has been wonderful, but also a huge spiritual
challenge for reasons that are too personal to get into.

------
noodle
try writing a novel. i know people working on books that push very hard to get
2000 words a day.

~~~
KevBurnsJr
I know coders who push very hard to turn 2000 words into 200.

~~~
noodle
yes, well, coding and novel writing have opposite goals.

i'll show you. i optimized a classic for you.

lord of the rings: evil guy makes magic ring, loses it, good guys get it and
he dies when they eventually destroy it.

~~~
Eliezer
"Omit needless words!" -- Strunk

Read The Elements of Style to find out how novel writing works. Using fewer
words is just as much a part of writing as using less code is part of
programming.

~~~
qaexl
Elements of Style teaches you how to write clearly and concisely. It doesn't
teach you how to write a novel.

~~~
jacobolus
Your statement is narrowly true, but if you mean to imply that would-be novel
writers wouldn’t benefit from internalizing Strunk & White, or that they need
not worry about clarity or economy, then I disagree.

Eliezer’s point that careful word choice is essential to good writing applies
just as much to novels as any other format.

~~~
qaexl
I think authors would benefit from _Elements_ , though like all strategies,
should not be taken as ideology. Apply where necessary. Even Hemmingway did
not stick to strictly minimalism.

We can also go off on a tangent, and talk about how Strunk & White was
published right at the end of the Victorian era, when WWI essentially wiped
out the Romanticism ideals of that era. Something similar happened in America
after the American Civial War. Mark Twain's writing became darker, gritter --
_clearer_ \-- when compared to his earlier works. Post-Civil War, no one
wanted to trumpet the glories of war. It took the Europeans another seventy
years to catch up. (My little excursion falls apart because both Strunk and
White were Americans).

I could compare this to martial arts training. Newbies are aweful to look at.
They have so much wasted motion. Economy of movement suggests mastery of the
art form. Masters condense sophistication into simple movements, fully aware
of their potential. They do not merely have simple movements.

My main point though, is that there are other skills in writing novels not
found in Strunk & White. Good expressive technique does not make a good story.
I may agree that _Elements_ is worth using. I don't agree it is the _only_
guide you should study.

------
paul9290
For almost a decade 18 to 28ish (early 30s now) I dealt with obsessive
thoughts and in turn anxiety that stifled me being myself around
others/enjoying myself. 18 to 24 before I went out of state to finish my
studies I had a ton of friends. We did stuff day in and day out, but i could
never enjoy those times as I was filled with anxiety and could never be
myself.

Fortunately I talked about my problems a lot. My mom went thru the same thing
and said that I would grow out of it, which I did after many years.

I tried various anti-depressants and stuff, but for me they never helped me
... time did though, as well as talking about it(this made me realize Im not
crazy/not the only one)!

------
petercooper
Don't just try to turn your hypergraphia into hypercodeia ;-) A lot of people
find that by writing about things they learn about them. For example, if you
write a tutorial about a certain algorithm, a certain programming language, or
whatever, you're forced to learn the topic well.

Perhaps you could write content about things you want to learn with how you
went about it, what you did, what you learned, and relay all that to other
people.

Get a blog, don't do any personal blogging, but just blog about your
programming adventures. I love to read such stuff because I get to enjoy the
results of other people's experimentation!

------
ChaitanyaSai
I am speculating; Inevitably posting confessions and trolling seem to involve
a need for attention perhaps? This may be a result of your earnest interest in
fitting into your peer group at an earlier age?

------
Jasber
Sometimes I have a problem with anxiety and OCD. Generally I can control the
OCD but sometimes the anxiety is overwhelming when I'm stressed.

When this happens I've found exercise to be a good release. I'm able to clear
my head and work out all the nervous energy.

Perhaps you could have a journal instead of a public blog? This way you can
still write without the side-effects of telling everyone your secrets.

------
okeumeni
time_management, I admire your courage and understand your need to post this
subject here on HN. Though your motive is to create a real debate around the
subject of mental problem, some of us go through every day, I don’t think HN
is the right platform to do this; here is why.

Mental illness in general is a very complex topic, unlike headache, flu or any
other disease; it is not something the regular person (the healthy person)
understands. Those who have never suffer from any form of mental problem tend
to think that it is a philosophical problem; they think that by thinking too
hard they can somehow come up with an explanation of a solution.

I also have to agree that Hackers community seems to be one with a high ratio
of people with some sort of mental disorder. I have suffered from depression
myself and all through my career many of people I met had some sort of mental
problem.

~~~
time_management
Mental illness is a "hacker's topic" because it requires mental "hacking" in
order to flourish in spite of it, and I'd imagine there's a large number of
successful "mind-hackers" on this forum.

~~~
okeumeni
I agree with your vision of mental illness as a "hacker's topic" if you think
of hackers as a high ratio community. I don’t agree to the fact that it
requires "Hacking" to deal with this very serious issue. Hacking is just a way
to alleviate effect of it on the daily basis.

Again your calling a debate on a subject most people don’t even understand on
a public forum, I don’t think this is productive to people with real issues. I
have been there I know what I’ am talking about.

~~~
time_management
By "hacking", I mean using medication, therapy, cognitive-behavioral
approaches, meditation, etc. to deal with the mind's inefficiencies. I don't
mean the narrower sense, which is coding.

People post neuro articles to this site all the time. I'm not going to get
into the debate over what mind is, but the brain is essentially a computer.

------
juliend2
I have to say that Hatha Yoga can be quite helpful. (But be careful because
some people tend to see it as a religion). It's more of a physical and mental
concentration exercice (Probably like your meditation).

Although It helped me a lot, i don't practice it anymore. But it's worth a
try.

Good luck!

------
astine
_I'm good at it. I can pound out 2000 words of coherent English prose in half
an hour._

Damn, that's a problem I've always wished I had. I write too, but not much. I
find that writing and coding to be very different activities, at least for me,
so I'm not sure you could channel that energy into coding. From the sound of
it, your writing compulsion sounds like it is more a matter of putting down
your thoughts rather than creating something, that is, its not very cerebral.
Coding, requires a filter between you and the keyboard, so this sounds like it
would be a major stopper.

It does sound like you could make a nice political columnist/author: something
like Limbaugh or Franken.

------
ratsbane
You've already won more than half the battle. You seem to have made a very
studied and pragmatic analysis of yourself and you've shared that with your
peers. That is a lot more than most people will ever do and it's certainly a
big part of learning to control the the personal quirks which bother you. But
you seem to have done that already to a large degree and that's commendable.
It's almost the new year and I'm starting to think of my own goals for 2009 -
your post makes me start to think of some things of my own which I'd like to
change. Thank you for writing this post.

------
bisi
SORRY FOR SHOUTING BUT YOU NEED B12 . Sublingal tablets or shots . You can get
the Sublingal Tablets at any pharmacy store without prescription . You have to
put them under your tongue .. I cured my panic attacks with B12 and I have
added B Complex too.. Start with 1000 Mcg of B12

It helps with your energy level and your immune system too . TRY B12 and let
us know what you think . It changed my like .I was begining to forget things
and now even my memory has improved because of the daily B 12 and B Complex

<http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/sympt>

------
zitterbewegung
I used to have panic attacks but they stopped after taking zoloft and
eventually I grew out of them. I have cyclothymia and I deal with that pretty
easily. When I get manic I obsess over thinking of new ideas and new
approaches to problems that I have. I use all of my will to stay logical
during this time. When I start getting off of that mania I start actually
implementing the solution. Also, I think that taking martial arts and my logic
class have helped me weed out the idiotic thoughts to and to get more
structured thoughts.

------
peter411
I have been dealing with dyslexia all my life. I tend to make a lot of
spelling errors and editing my own work is particularity difficult, because I
read what I think I see so "My god's namme is Rex" reads "My dog's name is
Rex". The best tools at my disposal are: \- a text to speech reader \- spell
check \- a thesaurus (The spell check suggestions are hard to tell apart )

------
zandorg
Do tech jobs discriminate against mental illness? By saying they couldn't
possibly be competent? I think some jobs discriminate by default, by looking
at someone's CV, which could be tainted by periods in hospital. Myself, I have
a mental illness and haven't been able to find work. It's up to me to sell my
own software to make a decent living.

------
bprater
If you live in a state where medical marijuana is legal, you might talk to a
doctor about seeing if this can help you.

I've had a friend with a similar problem with anxiety and panic problems, and
this really seems to help her. (She tends to do it in the evenings when she
can't shake that panicky feeling, but not while working.)

------
fiaz
I would imagine the following would be of help:

1) think positively

2) set some goals for yourself

3) direct your energy towards those goals

The first step is the key. Without the right attitude the rest of it would be
difficult. If you can bang out 2000 words in 30 minutes, then you have a
talent that can be used to help others and yourself.

Thanks for sharing - I wish you the best!

------
jesus_sav3s
I don't think you view your mental illnesses as something you want to change.
i.e. "... so I regard it as a blessing, though a mixed one." "My most
beautiful but also damaging..." The post gives the impression you want to be
seen as a damaged butterfly. I know someone very like you. He has the same
hyper-sensitivities, trolling, avoidance of drugs, obsessive writing and
hacking. I class both of you as classic INFPs with a strong need for self-
expression.

My friend made a couple breakthroughs with his life a few years back. He got
into drama/acting and films. These things made him far happier and he began to
express himself in a more positive manner. Maybe you should try out this area.
It is a good way to get some decent friends.

------
tstegart
Why code as opposed to novels? And what are you looking for? Some suggestions
on how to get into coding, or ways to improve your coding?

~~~
Shamiq
No, he's looking for a bridge between his ability to write and his ability to
code.

Any of the writers in this community have advice to give to this fellow?

------
puzzle-out
Socialise with like-minded people - I play darts a lot with friends, its a
mildly obsessive game, but also a social one.

------
light3
have you tried eating differently, or moving to the country side, does that
help at all?

------
Allocator2008
A friend of mine who I won't name here is an accomplished sci-fi writer/critic
of no little repute whose "day job" is technical writing/documentation, which
is how I know him, since we worked for the same company at one point. I wonder
if you have ever considered technical writing? If one is really good at/enjoys
writing but also knows how to program, this seems like it would be a good fit.
A strong technical knowledge combined with strong writing skills makes for a
good technical writer I think. The downside is that during layoffs, the
documentation department is the first to go it seems like, but the upside is
that advanced writers can really make a lot of money, especially if you
develop skills in the tools of that field, such as RoboHelp. Just a thought.

------
sabat
I'm mildly depressive. Mental issues are very common among smarter people.
Meaning: you're quite normal. :-)

* see a psychiatrist and possibly get on a drug. Can be very helpful.

* see a therapist

* start a regular exercise program and stick with it. Huge benefit there.

* limit carb intake, especially simple carbs.

~~~
jeffesp
I'm curious about the carb limitation - what is wrong with sugars?

~~~
strlen
From mental point of view, I'd think at least impact on attention and energy
levels.

That's aside, of course, from the physical dangers: diabetes (or diabetes like
symptoms), very serious weight gain. That also applied to all carbs, not just
sugars but some carbs are worse than others (e.g. high fructose corn syrup,
white bread) while some are better (brown rice, whole wheat).

~~~
sabat
Put simply, simple sugars can screw with mood. Better to avoid them in
general. This doesn't mean you shouldn't eat that brownie. It means you
shouldn't eat them often or eat a lot of them.

------
ram1024
the rest of us are fine, but thank you very much for asking

~~~
KevBurnsJr
_"Insanity is the only sane reaction to an insane society."_

~~~
okeumeni
Insanity in the context of this quote is not mental disease.

~~~
KevBurnsJr
To me, insanity refers to a judgment of the rationality of an observed
behavior.

Who is to say whether an exhibited mode of behavior deemed by the observer to
be irrational is the product of a mental disease or the rational course of
action given a more complete understanding of the world?

