
Aaron Swartz on illness and depression - neilk
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/verysick
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plg
A really good talk on Major Depression, what it is (a terrible, paralyzing
biological attack on the mind) and what it is not:

Robert Sapolsky (Stanford) : <http://youtu.be/NOAgplgTxfc>

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LogicX
It can be super tough to deal with a combination of symptoms that can seem
unrelated, or miniscule on their own. I suffered similarly for most of my life
- turned out I had a celiac disease and just had to eat Gluten Free. Lack of
nutritional absorption, effects of dehydration from diarrhea. And yet to

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petercooper
My dad was diagnosed with celiac disease several years ago but (mostly)
refused to go on the diet because he's strong willed about things like that.
He's in a rather bad way now, so if anyone here gets diagnosed with it, please
follow the diet.

~~~
hollerith
\-- and if the gluten-free diet does not work, please try the more
restrictive, "specific carbohydrate" diet.

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danso
For those who have experience with dealing with depression, what are your
thoughts on how suicides like Aaron's can be prevented? He seems like a
particularly unusual case, just because he had so many outlets and was so well
accomplished. I know that depression is very much related to physiological
factors, but some of those factors can be mitigated by behavior, and Aaron had
all the opportunities to at least distract his mind. Even the DOJ case can't
be considered a direct factor...such David vs Goliath cases spark people and
give them purpose, or at least a schedule of milestones to reach, which are at
least given meaning when activism is involved.

Beyond the tragedy of Aaron's death, it strikes me how difficult it must be to
treat such depression if it wasn't effectively treated in his case...

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alaskamiller
To prevent it has undertones that he can't freely choose what he wants. That
to me, is more depressing than being jailed with depression.

I keep seeing the same retorts, here, on Reddit, Gawker, and whatever outlet
treating this as if it's Kurt Cobain.

That if only someone had talked him down, or that if he had opened up more,
that the DOJ was bullying him, so on, so forth. The most egregious offense I
keep seeing is how selfish suicide is.

That, to me, is a very intimate and personal thing to say. That's something he
shares with him, his family, and close friends.

But my conclusion is this... emotional guilt tripping someone to say their
suicide creates pain for others thereby he should never choose to commit
suicide doesn't perpetuate healthy growth.

Moreover I think it's interesting as to how a community responds. The first
thing people are doing is to find a solution, to problem solve depression
which has many variables, vectors, causes, and results.

I believe this is our challenge oriented engineering brain at work. But maybe
that's not the right approach, maybe like dealing with your girlfriend in a
the relationship, the point isn't to immediately jump to rescue, just listen.

Just say hi.

Having spent some time on and off the past few years on suicidewatch boards I
keep seeing the same pattern over and over again. The majority of people just
want to talk, a sign, and they'll take anything, that they are worth it.
There's a minority of people, though, that just wants the pain and suffering
to stop. Death is incidental.

To those people, I don't wish it, but if it is what they want, I don't want to
ever be further trapped than I would already feel.

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sgvb0625
Most people who have celiac do not know it. It requires a special blood test.
It is an auto immune disease and causes depression, fatigue, and stomach
pains. Your body literally attacks the villi in your intestines which absorb
nutrients. Not sure this is what Aaron had celiac, but he does have the
symptons. This is why so many people are eating gluten free, not to lose
weight. One out of 100 have celiac, and the numbers are growing.

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curiousDog
I have the exact same issues with my health; Constant sinusitis, constant
chronic burning sensation in my stomach and constant headaches. Been to so
many doctors but no treatment so far. Somedays I just lay in bed and do
nothing out of the pain. It's not crippling enough that I can't get up but it
is enough from keeping me coding or concentrating. Maybe the path he took
isn't bad afterall.

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va9
Very pathetic to hear the pain he has gone through. Rest in peace, kid!! We
all love you for the work we did.

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hol717
People need to talk about their struggles with depression so that others can
be educated. It is a very hard illness to understand. It is incredibly
important.

<http://youcantmakelemonadeoutofthisshit.wordpress.com/>

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level09
I created a facebook cover, tribute to Aaron : <http://i.imgur.com/Cl7ME.jpg>

His articles inspired me and helped me get out of my depressed times, Can't
believe he helped thousands "get better at life" then he lost his own .. so
sad

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technifreak
Thank you. I am using this as my cover photo to bring awareness to Aaron's
work. Strangely enough, I celebrated the death of my best friend, who killed
himself 13 years ago, yesterday. Another brilliant mind taken too soon.

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greenonion
Painfully reminds me of David Foster Wallace describing depression in Infinite
Jest. Rest in peace, both of you.

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dschiptsov
That's so strange. Such a smart person, who been able to figure out the fixed-
set-mentality (which has another name - Learned Helplessness) should be aware
that all those symptoms are going together in feed-back loops, and that
individually crafted cognitive behavior therapy - slow-but-steady, iterative,
but radical changes in ones behavior, ones _habits_ is the only way out. He
also figured out those fallbacks-to-default-mood, which is, again, a mere
habituation. Sadly, being smart is not enough. Self-control and "emotional
intelligence" are required.

As any bookish kid will eventually realize - no excess of theory could
compensate for the lack of practice. This is a very unpleasant realization
after half of life was spent reading.

~~~
Klinky
Modern medicine has a habit of attributing unknown physical ailments to a
sketchy diagnosis of mental illness. The thinking goes "well we don't know
what's wrong with you, so it's probably anxiety or depression". The symptoms
he states could be allergies, Lyme Disease, a brain tumor for all we know, or
something else. The quickness with which some doctors rush to a diagnosis of
anxiety or depression is scary, sometimes doing so before running any tests.

Your post kind of comes off as blaming the patient. This is the quickest way
to get people to avoid seeking help, because they will be told they are at
fault for all their symptoms, which makes them want to seek treatment even
less.

