4 ms·

At the risk of sounding callous and uncaring, I will be blunt - I am wary of mental health advice that comes from a person who killed himself at age 26. I admi

At the risk of sounding callous and uncaring, I will be blunt - I am wary of mental health advice that comes from a person who killed himself at age 26. I admire Aaron for his technical ability, his unique perspective, his writing, his courage and passion. I sympathize with persecution he dealt with towards the end of his life, and I think that the prosecution against him was unjust. I find myself agreeing with most of his writing that I've encountered. On the topic of following the news, I am tempted to agree with him as well. However, I wonder if keeping up with the news reinforces the idea that the world can be a scary place, and that if we stray too far outside of the bounds of normal human behavior, we might face hardship. One could argue that that idea is detrimental to human society as a whole, but I think it is generally has a net positive effect on a particular person's mental wellbeing.

some_account 9y ago
Not scary. Insane. The societies we live in are doing insane things for profit and greed, and there is very little compassion for people who make mistakes or who is weak. The way we treat each other is quite bad on this planet. We are quite insane in how we worship money, power and science.
Antifragile1 9y ago
He did not kill himself. He was murdered.
stagbeetle 9y ago
It could be argued that Aaron was in the prime position to dish out mental health advice, being a sufferer of mental illness. Compare that to mental health professionals who, while educated and more knowledgeable than your average joe about mental health, might not have first-hand insight on practical coping strategies that actually work (as opposed to some of the "let's talk about it -- we're out of time, here's a script").
- wilsonnb 9y ago
  I don't think that would be a very convincing argument. At best, he would know strategies that helped him personally. A mental health professional would know strategies that help many people cope and have some idea of how to match different strategies to different people and situations. First hand experience is valuable but the idea that it can't be translated effectively into second/third hand experience by trained professionals is misguided.
  - stagbeetle 9y ago
    It is not that it cannot be translated into knowledge by professionals, it's that they'll never be able to comprehend what exactly is going on unless they've also suffered from mental illness. I can tell you how to catch a fish, because I've read all of the books on catching fish. I've watched fishing tournaments, and I've even helped people get into fishing. But I've never fished before. I won't be able to tell you how to really work the line. I can fill in the gaps, but it's usually not as effective as first-hand account. There's also the other side that most trained professionals are not equipped to handle serious cases. The lack of literature on quality-of-life increasing treatments for serious illnesses (major depressives, schizophrenics, etc.) is another factor. Most professionals get their information second-hand from textbooks and their education. Then secondly, from practice. Where as the first-hand experience of mental illness is the primary source of practical guidelines for those who suffer from them. There's also the statistic that around 60% of people with mental illness don't get or stop getting treatment. With schizophrenics and more serious sufferers being on the tail end of that.
    - wilsonnb 9y ago
      >It is not that it cannot be translated into knowledge by professionals, it's that they'll never be able to comprehend what exactly is going on unless they've also suffered from mental illness. This sentence reads to me like "It's not that professionals can't effectively use other peoples first hand experience , it's that they can't effectively use other peoples first hand experience". They don't need to know exactly what's going on. It's impossible for anyone to ever know exactly what is going on in another person's mind. Psychology as a profession is completely useless if that's the bar for it being useful. I apologize if my response comes off as aggressive, but I strongly believe that propagating the idea that mental health professionals can't really help people is dangerous for those that would benefit from their help.
adrianratnapala 9y ago
His comment on mental health was peripheral enough that it didn't worry about it. It was more that he complained about the "The news’s obsession with having a little bit of information on a wide variety of subjects" and then ends with "You should follow me on twitter here." "Should", not "can"!

some_account 9y ago

Not scary. Insane. The societies we live in are doing insane things for profit and greed, and there is very little compassion for people who make mistakes or who is weak. The way we treat each other is quite bad on this planet. We are quite insane in how we worship money, power and science.

Antifragile1 9y ago

He did not kill himself. He was murdered.

stagbeetle 9y ago

It could be argued that Aaron was in the prime position to dish out mental health advice, being a sufferer of mental illness. Compare that to mental health professionals who, while educated and more knowledgeable than your average joe about mental health, might not have first-hand insight on practical coping strategies that actually work (as opposed to some of the "let's talk about it -- we're out of time, here's a script").

wilsonnb 9y ago
I don't think that would be a very convincing argument. At best, he would know strategies that helped him personally. A mental health professional would know strategies that help many people cope and have some idea of how to match different strategies to different people and situations. First hand experience is valuable but the idea that it can't be translated effectively into second/third hand experience by trained professionals is misguided.
- stagbeetle 9y ago
  It is not that it cannot be translated into knowledge by professionals, it's that they'll never be able to comprehend what exactly is going on unless they've also suffered from mental illness. I can tell you how to catch a fish, because I've read all of the books on catching fish. I've watched fishing tournaments, and I've even helped people get into fishing. But I've never fished before. I won't be able to tell you how to really work the line. I can fill in the gaps, but it's usually not as effective as first-hand account. There's also the other side that most trained professionals are not equipped to handle serious cases. The lack of literature on quality-of-life increasing treatments for serious illnesses (major depressives, schizophrenics, etc.) is another factor. Most professionals get their information second-hand from textbooks and their education. Then secondly, from practice. Where as the first-hand experience of mental illness is the primary source of practical guidelines for those who suffer from them. There's also the statistic that around 60% of people with mental illness don't get or stop getting treatment. With schizophrenics and more serious sufferers being on the tail end of that.
  - wilsonnb 9y ago
    >It is not that it cannot be translated into knowledge by professionals, it's that they'll never be able to comprehend what exactly is going on unless they've also suffered from mental illness. This sentence reads to me like "It's not that professionals can't effectively use other peoples first hand experience , it's that they can't effectively use other peoples first hand experience". They don't need to know exactly what's going on. It's impossible for anyone to ever know exactly what is going on in another person's mind. Psychology as a profession is completely useless if that's the bar for it being useful. I apologize if my response comes off as aggressive, but I strongly believe that propagating the idea that mental health professionals can't really help people is dangerous for those that would benefit from their help.

adrianratnapala 9y ago

His comment on mental health was peripheral enough that it didn't worry about it. It was more that he complained about the "The news’s obsession with having a little bit of information on a wide variety of subjects" and then ends with "You should follow me on twitter here." "Should", not "can"!