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Comment by wheels | Hacker News Reader

So, being pedantic, is Diaspora even a startup? I've thought of it more as an open source project. And even if we're willing to label it a startup, why jump to the conclusion that doing a startup was the trigger? Couldn't it just as easily be a breakup, family problems, various emotional issues, etcetera? Why do we assume that the incidence of depression and suicide is higher among founders than non-founders?

I don't mean to trivialize the interplay, often strong, between emotions and work, but we're making a lot of assumptions here that as far as I'm aware are unfounded.

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    1. Life as a founder is often incredibly stressful.
    2. Prolonged periods of stress exacerbate/cause mental illness.

If you agree with both of those statements, the logical conclusion is that incidence of mental health related problems is likely higher among founders than the general population. At any rate, talking about these issues is of some value regardless.

I agree with those statements but the incidence of mental health problems isn't necessarily higher among founders because it. Being a founder (a real founder, not just an idea man with no execution) takes a special kind of person. These people seem to be able to handle the lifestyle and the stresses involved better than the general population. I wouldn't say they're immune but I'd say their ability to execute on a great idea and even be marginally successful at it puts them a cut above the rest.

So maybe we can safely say that founders are more likely to be at risk while at the same time saying that they don't succumb to depression in as high of numbers as other groups would despite that risk. I'd add to that lime of thought by saying depression is still far more common than we realize as it just isn't talked about so it doesn't show up on our radar.

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