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Comment by jonny1090231 | Hacker News Reader

I have been suffering depression for long time and can tell you right now that this article is as wrong in describing how I feel as one could get it. Regardless of how my need are taken care of and how satisfied I should be with the status quo depression takes it all away from you without you understanding why and how. There are days that I feel like I am the luckiest man in the world, technically speaking, yet I feel the 'saddest' and most depressed I have ever been. Don't believe for a second what the author claims here - depression is a disease and it needs to be treated as one. Very dangerous post indeed.

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I don't really understand how any part of what you said refutes the article.

> There are days that I feel like I am the luckiest man in the world, technically speaking

The reality is that each person's needs are different, and just because you are the luckiest man in the world based off society's values doesn't mean your individual needs are being met.

I sympathize with the fact that you have depression but I don't really see how the article is dangerous. If anything I would think that it's good to try and find/fix any underlying issues which cause the depression if possible rather than just hoping medication will make everything go away.

We still don't have a good understanding of the brain and psychological disorders..

The biggest issue I take with the article is a classic chicken and egg problem. The article takes the stance that your depression is there because of your life choices and some factors that aren't in your control. I'm of the very strong opinion that the exact opposite is true.

What really is the exact opposite here? That depression has nothing to do with your environment and only to do with your body?

> That depression has nothing to do with your environment and only to do with your body?

Yes. Exactly. And until you experience such a thing for yourself, or interact with someone like that you will 100% never believe it to be possible.

Yet it is.

Nope! I was chronically suicidal and depressed from 8th grade all the way through my first semester of college at Harvard. Someone jumped off a building halfway through that first semester, and ever after, I couldn't stop thinking about killing myself. Knew I'd unequivocally off myself if I stuck around, so it finally provided the impetus for me to drop out, travel around the world, get a Thiel Fellowship, and now be surrounded by the most amazing group of friends, family, and coworkers, and to be working on something I truly find meaningful.

Haven't been depressed or suicidal in the slightest since I came out here to SF and started living an autonomous life on my own trajectory. Was 100% circumstantial and situational for me, took zero drugs and professional therapy didn't do anything. Changing my life circumstances did everything.

So for you it was not like that. Did you think I meant it was only the way I said?

I meant that for some people it has zero to do with environment, not that it was like that for everyone.

Be glad it was so easy to fix for you, not everyone is so lucky.

Yeah, you're incorrect on this one. You as a human aren't somehow totally disconnected from your environment. The environment you live in, is a part of yourself, the two can't be separated.

You have more foreign bacteria living in your body than human cells. "life flows on within you and without you".

> Yeah, you're incorrect on this one

No I am not.

And like I said, till it happens to you, or you are with someone like that, you will never believe it.

I certainly never did. For some people it's environmental - for other? They are depressed for no reason whatsoever.

The rest of what you wrote is just empty phrases and has zero to do with this subject.

> And like I said, till it happens to you, or you are with someone like that, you will never believe it.

Just because you have experienced it before does not mean that you understand the causes of depression any more than anyone else. After all, you don't assume that people who have cancer have a better understanding of what causes cancer (all else being equal).

As a society we still don't really understand much about depression. You could be right or wrong, but how would you even know? Your case could be environmental without you knowing or understanding it. On the other hand you could also be correct that it's something else entirely.

Without more studies, we just don't know. I would believe that depression is not necessarily a disease and instead a group of symptoms. That's not to say that you don't have a disorder, but that I think our idea that all cases of depression are the same is incorrect. This would explain why some cases of depression are environmental whereas others may not be; they could actually be different diseases that both cause these symptoms.

As someone who is bipolar, depressive episodes are extremely similar to depression. In fact, about 1/5 cases of bipolar are initially misdiagnosed as depression, reportedly. As far as I know though, we aren't actually sure if they were misdiagnosed or depression developed into bipolar.

Indeed some studies have shown there is a link between bipolar, schizophrenia, and depression. See here: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2013/new-data-reve...

I don't think it's fair for others to say you are incorrect but it's also premature to say you are correct too. I hope that we will uncover the truth sometime in our lifetimes but it seems we are still pretty far away from understanding psychological disorders.

Depression could be a symptom of a bigger physiological problem.

Sudden pain isn't itself a disease, but a symptom of some other underlying issue. Why can't depression be the same way? No one here is discounting the discomfort of the depressive experience.

how satisfied I should be with the status quo depression

I'd be pretty damn depressed if I were thinking in terms of how satisfied I should be with the status quo. A person needs more than having his/her needs taken care of -- what is it? That search is part of the whole life, and you won't find any answers at all for yourself unless you're harnessing the power of depression. Labelling it as a disease will not get you anywhere but just leaves you as a bystander who unfairly got sick.

Isn't this precisely what the article is saying though? That upon reflection the sufferer can't see anything environmentally wrong?

I don't think depression is just one thing, certainly not the way they are prescribing SSRIs these days.

i'm with you on your description of 'those days'. i feel like (and technically true) all my needs are met and i'm much, much luckier than most people. but those are the worst days. i just hope this feeling would end, and for you too.

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