
Ask HN: How do you concentrate? - bgray
Recently, I've found my concentration is becoming increasingly bad.  I blame this mainly on co-workers and the internet keeping me from things that I need to get done (it's hard to program when I can only keep focus for about 10 minutes at a time).<p>What are tips/tricks you use to help "build" your concentration?
======
edw519
1\. Do not have access to the internet on your work machine. If you don't have
2 computers, get a netbook for < $300 and connect it to the internet. They
should be in 2 different workstations, ideally in 2 different rooms. The
thinking is that if you have to get up, you'll only do it if it's really
necessary. It works pretty well.

2\. You should have 2 modes: coding and not coding. For coding, you should be
at your desk coding. For not coding you can be anywhere, but _not at your
desk_. One of my biggest problems is that I often find myself in one mode when
I should be in the other. If you're having trouble writing code, then you
probably don't know what to write. Grab source code listings, pen, & paper and
_get away from your computer_. Don't come back until you know exactly what
you're going to be working on. Better yet, until you're _dying_ to work on it.
OTOH, if your doing analysis and are stuck, stop. Go back to the computer and
code something, anything small, just to get going.

3\. End every day in analysis mode. Don't go to sleep until you have
tomorrow's plan ready. You should wake up knowing exactly what you're going to
be working on and excited to do it. More about that:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=191275>

4\. Never text or IM when working. Have the cell phone nearby only for
emergencies. For email, go to the other computer once an hour (see #1 above).

5\. Try 48 minutes on, 12 minutes off. For long coding sessions, this works
pretty well for me:

[http://successbeginstoday.org/wordpress/2006/09/the-power-
of...](http://successbeginstoday.org/wordpress/2006/09/the-power-
of-48-minutes/)

6\. Ipod.

~~~
thismat
You are a wealth of information on productivity. Everytime I see your posts
there is always something of great value in them. You really should start a
blog (unless you have one?) and cover these subjects there as well as I really
enjoy hearing about your routines and experience.

Now I'm off to setup a timer on my G1 so I can test out the 48/12 method.

~~~
edw519
Thank you, thismat.

 _You really should start a blog_

Thanks for reminding me, I forgot...

7\. Don't blog.

Blogging is one of those things I'd love to do (along with bridge, piano, &
foosball), but I don't because I don't want to do it "half way". I'd be afraid
of having 3 posts one week, then none for the next month. And I don't want any
of these things to interfere with the time I dedicate to my projects. I know
that by the third Wednesday night, I'd have to choose between coding and
blogging, and I don't want to be in that position (at least at this point in
my life).

So instead I come here. hn is perfect for someone like me; I come when I can
and don't come when I'm really busy coding. I suppose my posts here comprise
my "pseudo-blog".

Getting work done really isn't all that complicated, and I'm glad to share
what works for me. Most importantly, work on something you're passionate about
and find those habits that work best for you. All the rest is details.

~~~
thismat
I was thinking from more of a concentrated, documented library of your
productivity tips instead of a social blog, but I definitely see your point
and commend you on your "productivity > x" mindset.

I'll just have to start saving clips I've read that have been very inspiring
for reference.

------
hegemonicon
Practice.

Something I've discovered is that the more I let my mind and my mouse wander
away from what I'm supposed to be working on (ie: right now), the harder it is
to maintain focus. I suspect this has to do with the reward circuitry in my
brain - when I desire something (going on the internet, sending a text
message, etc) and IMMEDIATELY receive it, I become habituated to that. So much
so that when I desire something and don't immediately get it, my dopamine
drops, and it becomes extremely important that I get it right away. It works
the same way as addiction, really.

So to avoid it, you just need to get used to denying yourself - eventually
your reward center will get used to not getting what it wants immediately, and
your dopamine will return to normal levels.

------
arfrank
If I really need to block out everything I use <http://simplynoise.com/> and
turn the brownian noise all the way up and turn on oscillation. It both calms
me and lets me focus on what I need to do for extended periods.

~~~
MikeCapone
I've tried it for a few minutes and I like it.

I've tried downloading the loopable brown noise file, but when I put it on a
loop in quicktime there's a break at the end of the loop which is annoying.

Anyone knows how to make a seamless loop?

edit: I've tried it in iTunes and the break isn't quite as annoying (though
still there). You can make it a bit more "full" by playing the website
(oscillating) and the loop file at the same time.

~~~
albemuth
Try with audacity, import the audio file, select a region then I think its
shift + space to loop

~~~
MikeCapone
I've found that - on a Mac - you can simply make a Dashboard widget with it.
You have to go in the options and uncheck "Play audio only in dashboard",
though.

------
al3x
1\. Stop using IM. Period. Not just when you're working. All the time. You
don't need it. There's email, SMS, phone calls, Twitter, and other social
messaging services. IM is the most brutally distracting and easiest way to
waste time when trying to work.

2\. Stop using Growl or equivalent. You're training yourself to constantly be
looking for distractions in the periphery. You don't need that information, I
promise - even for your fancy CI system that tells you when tests fail. Knock
it off.

3\. Quit anything remotely interruptive for the duration of your work session:
IRC, Campfire, Twitter client, email client. This can be tough if you're
working remotely, so let clients and coworkers know when you'll be available
online and when you're focusing. As long as you communicate your goals and
intentions clearly, they'll understand.

4\. Get yourself some noise-cancelling headphones. I like the Bose QC 3. Added
bonus: take 'em on plane trips and they help to dull the engine noise.

5\. Listen to something engaging but not totally engrossing. Ambient music and
noise generators were mentioned in this thread, and I like them, but sometimes
you need something with more "oomph" to get you through a dull task. Minimal
techno is my staple, as it rarely has distracting vocals and typically
maintains a steady, not-too-fast, not-too-slow beat. There are tons of sites
out there with free DJ mixes, just search around.

6\. A personal preference: work standing. I find that standing helps keep me
focused and helps to distinguish work from relaxation.

7\. Get a really big monitor and cover it in your code, terminals,
documentation, etc. The only thing that should be in view is the material you
need to get your task done.

8\. Make a list of stuff to do, and do that stuff. Doesn't matter whether that
list is in some fancy GTD app, a bug tracker, or on a piece of paper. It's
helpful to see the list and know that you get to cross off an item or close a
ticket when it's done.

9\. Block work time out on your calendar. I refuse meetings after lunch (from
1PM to 6:30PM), and I'll only make exceptions for truly exceptional
circumstances (candidate flew across the country to interview, has one day,
there's no other time to meet with him/her). This is essentially pg's idea of
the "Maker's Schedule", although I'd been doing it for several months before
he wrote about it.

10\. Meditate. This sort of speaks to the comment in this thread about
practice. Meditation is conditioning for your brain. It's really, really hard
to do well, and even harder to find the time to do it. I don't do it as often
as I should, but when I do, I find it much easier to concentrate on hard
problems.

Hope some of the above helps.

~~~
dgallagher
For point #5, listening to music, I'd like to emphasize sticking away from
vocals. It's weird, but my brain can listen and code just fine to non-lyrical
music, or music which has repetitive samples (they meld into the background
like another instrument). Once you start adding in someone singing though, it
all changes for the worse.

Psychedelic trance, like Infected Mushroom or Psycraft, is my favorite stuff
to code to at the moment. In fact most electronic music lacks lyrics and is
favorable to coding IMHO (if you haven't heard of it, check out "Ishkur's
Guide to Electronic Music" to find some electronic songs/genre's you might
like - <http://bit.ly/10ZP9>). Beastie Boys is ultimate death, unfortunately.
Too much damn lyrical style.

Small hack: I've found that you can listen to vocal music without distraction,
but only if it's sung in a language you don't understand. But for the life of
me, I can't find any songs about Assembler... ;)

~~~
Poiesis
I like Podrunner (<http://podrunner.com>). Intended for runners, but it's got
a good beat. Occasional remixed lyrics can be a bit distracting, but much less
so than pop (not all tracks have vocals, and they're repetitive so it's easy
to tune out). Also, the mixes are an hour which is a great chunk of time to
disappear and come up for air later.

------
jfoutz
I take speed.

After 30 years I decided I probably have ADD. Talked to a doctor and he
agreed.

Very small doses give me hours and hours of concentration.

Only about six months in, but the difference is night and day.

~~~
modoc
Are you concerned about medium/long term damage to your brain or endocrine
system? I'm not judging at all, but for me, the fear of damaging what is my #1
asset has kept me away from anything beyond the occasional cup of tea. The
idea of being "in the zone" easily and for hours is very appealing, but the
unknowns and risks make my shy away. What are your thoughts?

~~~
jfoutz
I take this: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisdexamfetamine> in the lowest
dosage available.

I'm worried about tolerance.

I run regularly, and eat reasonably well. There are risks, but the difference
is so dramatic i think it's worth it. As i understand it, amphetamines have
been around forever, and are pretty well understood.

To be clear, i tried everything many times. personal organizers, schedules,
regular exercise, diet, avoiding stimulants like caffeine and depressants like
alcohol, meditation, weird reward systems where i'd buy myself stuff if i did
well for x days. I didn't do the full powerset... maybe there is some
combination that would work, but my search for a system i could live with for
the rest of my life was not successful.

My current personal theory is, I wear glasses cause my eyes are a little
screwy, and take speed cause my brain chemistry is a little screwy.

I'd suggest doing everything else first. 5 hours of exercise (or so) a week is
a big win. If you only eat horrible food, diet changes help ... if you
occasionaly eat horrible food not so much. Meditation helped, but if you only
do 1 thing, pick exercise.

If you still suck at finishing things after you've done all that, talk to your
doctor.

~~~
jamesbritt
"My current personal theory is, I wear glasses cause my eyes are a little
screwy, and take speed cause my brain chemistry is a little screwy."

I wish this POV was more prevalent, and I hope that more people talking about
neurochemical imbalances will help that.

Most people have no trouble with the idea of taking insulin shots to handle
diabetes, but somehow taking brain drugs is de facto spooky bad. Pretty much,
"Oh, psychiatric stuff. So you're like, crazy?"

------
shrikant
In the context of tackling a niggling problem that really could be dealth with
in minutes, but appears to be taking forever - I find that a short nap (about
15-20 mins tops) helps me focus and gather my thoughts.

If you're in a crowded and/or noisy work environ, noise-cancelling headphones
are useful for zoning out, and are more obvious than earphones, so people
around you can see the reason for you not responding to them.

But as for "building" concentration because 'co-workers and the Internet' keep
you from getting work done? No amount of mindhacks can help if you want to
continue 'blaming' them for your distraction. Hard to fix a problem you claim
to not have control over..

~~~
pyre
Maybe those people can follow the AA method. Accept that the Internet has
control over you, and cut yourself off from the Internet by accepting Jesus.

------
bham
For the love of all things good in the world, block Google Reader.

I disable auto-checking for new email.

Quit Tweetie.

Quit your IRC client.

Listen to some slow, drone-like ambient music (favorite: "The Tired Sounds of
Stars of the Lid" or a Buddha Machine).

Also, while in school (when I _really_ had to and _wanted_ to concentrate), I
had very good success listening/experiencing binaural beats.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats>

~~~
dimarco
+1 for Stars of the Lid.

------
keefe
I have read that meditation helps build a control circuit in the brain and I
practice it regularly. I often listen to music or some well known old TV show,
something that flows familiar impressions to block out external noise but does
not command my attention. Finally, my somewhat silly but surprisingly
effective method is budgeting my time with a vibrating watch.
<http://www.epill.com/medos.html> I set this up with a 60 minute countdown and
commit myself to work for that hour. The alarm is subtle and doesn't distract
others, just a small vibration. Then, I take a break. My goal is always to do
that 1 hour work, so I take a break for long enough that I feel I can do the
next 1 hour sprint. Then, I figured out how many I could do in a day (started
at 4, now working on 9) and moved it up, just like working out. That is not to
say I don't do other work as well, but these sprints are both more productive
and more stressful.

------
mahmud
I am only distracted when I have no problems. Show me a good problem or show
me money, and nothing can pry me away from work.

I am a heavy chain smoker, averaging 30 cigarettes a day .. except when I am
in hack mode. I can go for up to 10 hours without even noticing I haven't had
smoke all day.

The other thing that motivates me is phone work and emails; when I have a
contract or a deal in my sights I am in predator mode :-)

------
ojbyrne
I know this is weird, but for me the best way for me to concentrate is to lie
down on my stomach with a laptop in front of me. Not good ergonomically, and I
think its because as a kid I did all my homework lying on the floor in front
of the TV.

Hard to do in an office environment without strange looks. ;-)

------
snitko
This might sound weird, but under no circumstances start concentrating and
working unless you've previously jerked off. Or unless you're absolutely sure
your mojo's not going to be awake for some time. This thing distracts you like
in a moment when you're really starting to get deeper into the code and it's
really hard to concentrate again. Ejaculation frees your mind.

------
anelson
I find the thing that most kills my concentration is lag. For example, right
now I'm at work and we're facing a crucial deadline, but I'm not working. Why?
Because I just made a change that requires re-running an integration test,
which takes several minutes to run. I'm not about to sit there staring at the
test, so I switch over to my feed reader and catch up on news.

Logically, I know this is devastating for my productivity, but so is staring
at a progress bar for 10 minutes after every change. After the iteration, I
focus on fixing the one or two serious lags that hurt productivity. It's not
always possible (I've no idea how I'll speed up this integration test), but
it's a worthwhile effort.

It is for this same reason that my company spares no expense on dev
workstations. When a build takes 10 minutes, the productivity hit is at least
twice that, and it's a recurring penalty.

~~~
Poiesis
This.

I suspect this is not an uncommon problem. I have found a solution that works
pretty well, though (though it's nothing fancy): don't do that.

By that I mean, when you find yourself faced by one of those waits, and are
about to switch to some time-sucking activity, ask yourself, "will I _really_
stop this before the wait is over, or I lose track of time?"

I've lost so much time to these sorts of things that I do one of two things
during the wait. 1) I just stare at that progress bar. Boring, but at least I
won't find myself reading Wikipedia in an hour or something. I know that I'll
only waste 10 minutes instead of an hour. Alternatively, I 2) spend a few
seconds thinking of a task that won't suck me in but needs to be done. For
example, I go through my code and see that everything's formatted well, or
commented well. Or answer a few emails (I don't tend to get sucked into
emails, I know some do).

You have to train yourself to respond _right_ when you feel that tug of "what
can I look at next?" You end up telling yourself "no" hundreds of times a day.
It's a challenge, but it's worth it.

------
n-named
Exercise, meditation, yoga, spending time in nature. Sleeping regularly.
Eating breakfast. Spending enough time per day not working, i.e not overdoing
it.

~~~
bgray
Meditation is a tip that others have referred to me. Any good resources for
meditation?

~~~
varaon
I can't answer that question, but I find that simple breathing exercises can
help.

<http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/pranayama/complete.asp>

-Sit comfortably, either on a chair or on the floor. Close your eyes.

-Lengthen your spine up towards the ceiling, as if a string were attached to the crown of your head.

-Relax your shoulders by rolling them down your back.

-Breathe slowly and deeply through the nose. Fill your lungs from the bottom up. Focus on feeling your abdomen push out, then the middle of your chest, and finally your upper ribs.

-Breathe out through your mouth in the reverse order - compressing your chest from the top down (ribs, solar plexus, lower abdomen).

Repeat this a few times, breathing slowly, deeply and _mindfully_. To breathe
mindfully means to focus on the act of of breathing, and how it feels inside
of you. Notice the temperature and moistness of the air in your nose, the ribs
expanding, the shoulder blades being stretched, the sound the breath makes...

The idea is to calm your body with deep breathing, and calm your mind by
focusing solely on the breathing. Try to allow your muscles to relax and be
stretched by the breaths (but keep the back straight). Your mind should be
empty at the end of this.

It may take a few practices before you're able to completely clear your mind.
You might consider taking free meditation workshops or yoga classes offered by
your community centre.

P.S. - HN - how do I do bulleted lists?

~~~
Shamiq
You don't.

------
diN0bot
record every hour of your day in an easy-to-record system such as OSX's iCal.
facing your inefficiencies and patterns is crucial for doing better. combine
what you learn from your past with what others here are saying about better
planning and habits. <http://github.com/diN0bot/iCal-Analyzer>

------
bingaman
If you really do need a network connection to do work I've found that the
Leechblock plugin for firefox helps me regain at least some measure of
control. You can set it to allow yourself a certain number of minutes per hour
of "freedom" and the rest of the time it simply blocks the sites that you tell
it to. It's amazing how many times per day I see that block page. (And at the
moment, hacker news seems to have slipped through my filters :)
<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476>

------
angelbob
One thing I had to work hard to figure out is that I code in two different
ways, and I need to alternate them. They are physically incompatible -- I can
only be doing one or the other in a given hour or so.

One of these is design. When designing (software, not visually) I need to
avoid getting into ruts. I need to rethink constantly and brainstorm
frequently. I should consider wildly different or thoroughly impractical
structures for code and programs, because those frequently lead to more
practical but non-obvious ideas. Design mindset is facilitated by having
enough sleep/rest, having eaten reasonably (especially protein, but not too
much), and not having much else on my mind.

The other mindset is for execution. I need to take that design and churn
through it. I'm not rethinking, I'm building. This mindset is excellent for
churning out a lot of code fast when I have a good understanding of it. I do
less of this in Ruby than in C (less grind-work!), but it's still important on
occasion. Execution mindset is helped by minimal distractions, caffeine or
other stimulants, and being slightly tired and undernourished, as long as it
doesn't get too extreme.

These states alternate, and different coding tasks call for different
proportions of one versus the other. Planning which and making sure I'm
physically well-adapted to the appropriate kind of work for the task help me a
lot.

------
run4yourlives
1\. Right click rescue time in sys tray. 2\. Click "Get Focused" 3\. Enter
three digits (at least) 4\. Get back to work.

Not being facetious here at all. The internet for a computer worker is the
biggest concentration killer out there. Blocking it all means losing part of
your toolbox (i.e. googling some obscure/unknown language reference or topic),
but relying on you being able to kill your temptation is not effective.

RescueTime solves this problem brilliantly. (There are other programs too, I
just happen to use RescueTime)

------
bhousel
The right kind of background music really helps me concentrate on a task. It
has to be something with enough energy to get my pulse up, but brainless
enough not to distract me.

I've been listening to <http://www.philosomatika.com/> a lot lately. 24/7
streaming psychadelic trance.

------
UsNThem
I would recommend some of the tracks by the group All india radio
<http://www.myspace.com/allindiaradio> . I use it effectively to differentiate
the signal from the noise ! :) Anything without lyrics works for me

------
esila
Taken from "Time Management for System Administrators", however I feel this
particular principle applies towards your situation:

Figure out if you're a "morning/mid-day/late-afternoon/night" person when it
comes to your brain activity. Some people, for the life of them, can't get
their brain functioning when they get up. Others can't seem to concentrate
until they've gotten lunch and feel "established" in the day.

Figure out your natural cycle and make sure you attempt to get good quality
coding time in during your best times. If this is not possible, then apply the
other response suggestions and hopefully you can increase the range of your
concentration time.

~~~
allenp
I want to add that this book has a lot of good advice for all sorts of jobs,
if you look at how to apply it. Two advices I like are to list your next day's
activities before leaving your work for the day, and to work out a blocking
system with coworkers so they handle incoming questions for you so you can
spend the time focused. The blocking would be handled in an alternating
fashion every-other day. It is a really quick read and written in a
conversational tone - check it out.

------
srn
Listen to music. Get the headphones that encompass your entire ear so you
don't hear other people talk. I've done this for 10 years now. Also possibly
get people to write you emails instead of dropping by the office even if
you're 5 feet away. Work from home or from somewhere else occasionally, and
work hours when other people aren't there.

~~~
bgray
I've started working from one day a week and have found I can get
significantly more done away from the office. Maybe going into work a couple
hours before others would help too...

------
monological
I love to work on things that interest me, like coding up a back-end for a
site. If it's interesting, I start thinking about solutions, I get in the zone
automatically and just code away.

Be careful to not overdo it by having balance between hacking (analytical) and
dreaming (creative), lest you get burned-out, in which case concentration
becomes impossible.

my 2cents

------
yarapavan
Perhaps, this best advice works for you!!

<http://productiveblog.tumblr.com/>

------
uptown
I switched from talk radio to music. It helps me focus better. I also force
myself to close my RSS reader and email because the alerts were pulling me
away from what I was trying to get done. I open it up every hour or two, or
after I reach a milestone. Those two small things have helped me immensely.

------
alexgartrell
I was having a big problem concentrating and getting work done so I tried
something my friend told me to do. Sit for an hour, and do nothing. Don't
plan, hardly think, just sit. It's hard to explain, but it feels like hitting
the motivation reset button. I would say it's definitely worth trying.

~~~
abesapien
I have to say this always works for me too. The thing is there are always
forces pulling us away from what is most important. When i meditate sometimes
it becomes more clear what is most important. Usually about 30 minutes into it
I visually see something related to a goal. After that I just follow the
vision. I worked with a guy who graduated from Pepperdine University for his
MBA, and he said they are teaching meditation techniques to business majors
now.

------
javanix
I do my best to give myself ridiculous deadlines, and then do my damndest to
meet them.

If I absolutely _have_ to meet something, I will. Granted, I can only keep it
up for a couple of weeks or so, but during that time I can productively code
for > 10 hours at a time.

------
rubentopo
I normally try to schedule blocks greater than 4 hours for programming and i
do everything else on the remaining block of time. This normally requires a
little bit of planning the day before and may be disrupted by peers or
emergencies, but it works for me.

------
gcv
Try to work on something interesting. Hate to sound snarky, but it's that
simple for me.

------
allenp
When are times when you can concentrate? Do they have patterns that you can
see? Can you artificially re-create these patterns?

Are you disengaged from your daily work? Maybe you need more interesting
endeavors?

------
known
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development> helps me a lot in
concentrating on my work.

------
maxer
i use <http://rescuetime.com> its free and helps me track what i waste time on
and gives me a target to focus on when developing

------
kakooljay
Did you see this? <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=868967>

------
bjclark
First I write a test.

Then I write just enough code to make that test past.

Then I refactor my code so that it meets the 4 rules of simplicity.

Then I write another test.

~~~
trafficlight
How does this help you concentrate?

~~~
pyre
I'm thinking it helps concentration by having short small goals and a definite
plan for working on them. Sometimes lack of concentration is due to lack of a
structured plan of attack on your 'todo' items. Breaking it into small pieces
can also help by not making it some sort of 'monumental' task that you feel is
going to take a long time causing you to allow yourself time to do other
things because the task isn't going to be immediately done.

------
projecktzero
I turned off email notifications. I put on earbuds and listen to
instrumental(sometimes ambient) music and focus.

------
jmtame
try adderall. you might be adhd.

~~~
misterbwong
Don't know if you were trying to be facetious but I downvoted because this is
potentially dangerous advice. Just because he can't concentrate with coworkers
and other noise around, doesn't mean he has ADHD.

OP: For noise, really good noise reduction headphones are the key to my sanity
in the workplace.

As for internet distraction, I found two things helpful. 1) Eliminate non-
essential immediate/push notifications. and convert them these tasks to on
demand type tasks. Turn off twitter notifications on the iphone, shut down
your IM client, and only check your feeds when you want to, not when they get
pushed to you. I find the interruption of the notifications plays hell with my
concentration. 2) install rescuetime and track (or even block) your internet
sites.

~~~
jriddycuz
Yeah, definitely don't just take Adderall. I'm diagnosed with ADHD and I take
Adderall every day and I _still_ have a lot of trouble focusing. Especially
when the problem gets boring. Especially when I want to solve a much more
generic problem than the one I really need to get done. Especially when I'd
rather be outside doing God knows what. If you seriously suspect that you have
trouble focusing even on things you are interested in--and I mean _seriously_
suspect; I routinely get distracted from very enjoyable activities like eating
or sex, so it's not just "I can't focus at work"--go see an appropriate
professional.

Honestly, I tend to use my imagination to concentrate. I mean, really stupid
things like imagining that my code is slaying dragons or something, or that
I'm actually developing software for an asteroid mining platform. Really, use
whatever it takes to make yourself INTERESTED in what you are doing.

Also, avoid Hacker News. ;)

~~~
revicon
Specifically who would be considered "an appropriate professional"? Just go
see my general practice physician, or is there someone more specifically I
should go to instead?

~~~
jriddycuz
It's hard to say. I'd probably ask your general practice physician for a
referral to a therapist that specializes in adult ADHD. And I say therapist
rather than psychiatrist intentionally: A therapist is usually someone with a
PhD in psychology or counseling, and is less likely to take a purely "better
living through science" approach than a psychiatrist, who is usually an MD
specializing in psychological health, and is more likely to simply prescribe
drugs and send you on your way. If you see a therapist, and they recommend
medicine (they usually will), they will write up a recommendation to your
primary physician to prescribe you that medicine.

------
nreece
I take breaks, not concentrating on anything.

