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Are you still depressed? I try to have 5 good days out of 7 in a week. I found that CBT helps especially the book Feeling Good by David Burns. He has a podca

by sjg007 7y ago

Are you still depressed? I try to have 5 good days out of 7 in a week. I found that CBT helps especially the book Feeling Good by David Burns. He has a podcast out now about a new team base cbt approach. The podcast is great and the workbooks in his books are really helpful. He has an associated clinic in Mountain View as well. The approach is practical and specific. CBT has roots in Buddhism and stoicism as well for the life hacker types we see here on HN from time to time. The basic idea is that your thoughts create your feelings. There are a lot of tools to help identify and understand those thoughts.

randycupertino 7y ago
> especially the book Feeling Good by David Burns. This book changed my life for the better, as well as The Depression Cure by Stephen Ilardi. Both of them combined got me out of a deep multi-yearlong depression and allowed me to get married, get a better job, be more productive, more active and much much happier. I still have relapses every 6 months or so but I go back to the books and re-read my margin notes and highlights and it always helps. I didn't know Dr. Burns had a clinic in mountain view. Interesting!
0xcde4c3db 7y ago
I'm not sure whether I'd actually meet the criteria for a depression diagnosis anymore. I haven't been severely depressed since starting CPAP treatment, but my emotional experience is still very flat and I still have difficulty processing social interaction. I've heard of Feeling Good and CBT in general, and without going into the gory details, it really doesn't sound like it's the right approach for me.
- im3w1l 7y ago
  Are you saying sleep apnea the root cause of your depression?
  - 0xcde4c3db 7y ago
    No, I'm not saying that. I can't rule it out, but based on other symptoms I've had for a long time I think it's more likely that it was "just" making everything more stressful and reducing my ability to cope in general.
- sjg007 7y ago
  Sure I understand that. I hope you do find something that works. Depression is the world's oldest con and it's not fun to suffer. I've found my CPAP helps too. I also have to eat well and balanced as well as not drink too much. The latter was a big thing for me.. drinking made me feel better in the moment and reduced my anxiety considerably in that moment but the next day and the day after would be awful. It took a long time for me to piece together that my lack of sleep, the relatively consistent hangover and the lack of eating properly really had a major impact on my mental mood. I just kind of though this was how it was and nothing could fix it. But the CPAP and the Feeling Good podcast as well as some medication have really helped. Now I just have to get to the exercise part that everyone keeps talking about...
viburnum 7y ago
Another vote for Burns. I think he’s way ahead the rest of the field. He’s kind of like the old extreme programming methodology: lots of automatic testing, consistent use of best practices, short iterations, and pragmatically focused. I took me a while to get into his podcast but it’s helped me a ton. Having listened to nearly every episode now I get it. He’s usually too nice to say it but he also gets to why most therapies (and therapists) fail. Knowing this especially helped me.

by sjg007 7y ago

randycupertino 7y ago

> especially the book Feeling Good by David Burns. This book changed my life for the better, as well as The Depression Cure by Stephen Ilardi. Both of them combined got me out of a deep multi-yearlong depression and allowed me to get married, get a better job, be more productive, more active and much much happier. I still have relapses every 6 months or so but I go back to the books and re-read my margin notes and highlights and it always helps. I didn't know Dr. Burns had a clinic in mountain view. Interesting!

0xcde4c3db 7y ago

I'm not sure whether I'd actually meet the criteria for a depression diagnosis anymore. I haven't been severely depressed since starting CPAP treatment, but my emotional experience is still very flat and I still have difficulty processing social interaction. I've heard of Feeling Good and CBT in general, and without going into the gory details, it really doesn't sound like it's the right approach for me.

im3w1l 7y ago
Are you saying sleep apnea the root cause of your depression?
- 0xcde4c3db 7y ago
  No, I'm not saying that. I can't rule it out, but based on other symptoms I've had for a long time I think it's more likely that it was "just" making everything more stressful and reducing my ability to cope in general.
sjg007 7y ago
Sure I understand that. I hope you do find something that works. Depression is the world's oldest con and it's not fun to suffer. I've found my CPAP helps too. I also have to eat well and balanced as well as not drink too much. The latter was a big thing for me.. drinking made me feel better in the moment and reduced my anxiety considerably in that moment but the next day and the day after would be awful. It took a long time for me to piece together that my lack of sleep, the relatively consistent hangover and the lack of eating properly really had a major impact on my mental mood. I just kind of though this was how it was and nothing could fix it. But the CPAP and the Feeling Good podcast as well as some medication have really helped. Now I just have to get to the exercise part that everyone keeps talking about...

viburnum 7y ago

Another vote for Burns. I think he’s way ahead the rest of the field. He’s kind of like the old extreme programming methodology: lots of automatic testing, consistent use of best practices, short iterations, and pragmatically focused. I took me a while to get into his podcast but it’s helped me a ton. Having listened to nearly every episode now I get it. He’s usually too nice to say it but he also gets to why most therapies (and therapists) fail. Knowing this especially helped me.