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‘Crypto Ruined My Life’: The Mental Health Crisis Hitting Bitcoin Investors

11 points by baskethead 5y ago

livinglist 5y ago
where there’s winning there’s losing. people should know better and accept results of their own actions.
- eesmith 5y ago
  Since the result for some people is poor mental health, no they should NOT accept that result. They should work to get better, and get help in recognizing and avoiding the path that brought them there in the first place.
  - Jerrrry 5y ago
    If you're "good day" depends on a ticker going up or down, that is in no way substantively different than addiction. If it is acceptable for +, then - is also on the table. Saying "feeling bad is poor mental health and shouldn't be accepted" is pretty much a _practically_ useless sentiment. If your dog dies, is it acceptable to grieve? Is that being in poor mental health? Is that acceptable? Shouldn't you take a Xanax and go back to work? The costs of individual liberty are becoming more apparent. This applies to self-directed investing as much as it does gun ownership, or bodily autonomy. If we can simply say it isn't acceptable...what good does that do?
    - eesmith 5y ago
      > that is in no way substantively different than addiction Yes, I agree with the article's multiple comparison's to addition. Eg, quoting it: "Like any addiction, crypto can offer people an escape from the world and a short-term dopamine hit at the expense of everything else in their life." > is pretty much a _practically_ useless sentiment Which is why I said "and get help in recognizing and avoiding the path that brought them there in the first place". Eg, again quoting the article: "Experts like Peter Klein, a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist who offers CBT for cryptocurrency-related mental health issues," > If your dog dies, is it acceptable to grieve? Yes. But if you're still grieving a year later, at 'the expense of everything else in [your] life' then it's a problem. > Shouldn't you take a Xanax and go back to work? Xanax is a prescription drug. Acquiring it legally means that you've gotten some help. I don't think CBT is as useful for the case you described, but that's a wild-ass guess on my part. > If we can simply say it isn't acceptable...what good does that do? I don't know. I didn't say that. Clearly we see approaches towards gambling addition more than "you get what you deserve", so I really don't see your underlying point.
RantyDave 5y ago
Hmmm. "Real" investing is not much better, go ask Palantir's shareholders.
- rvz 5y ago
  Depends when one bought in. I mean, just look at the responses about Cloudflare ($NET) [0] or even $DOGE [1] or BTC [2] then you can really see how out of tune their expectations were vs my expectations. Hardly a surprise to see that happen these days. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29355360 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29355360 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27046019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27046019 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27206314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27206314
fivea 5y ago
> Hashim Yasir, 19, is an NFT project founder and crypto trader who lost “a good amount of money” in the recent crash. He tells VICE that it affected his mental health for some time: “[Up until then] I felt like I was finally getting pretty confident with this new skill, but it really felt like the market was officially going to drop to zero.” I'm curious what he, and others like him, perceive this "new skill" to be, and exactly what led him to believe he had any degree of control over the outcome.
- tluyben2 5y ago
  I have multiple crypto trader acquaintances who send me pictures of complex dashboards showing the ‘moon’ predictions for FLURPCOIN2 and going ‘all in’. When the market slips down, they pop over a meme with something something HODLING diamond hands. This is the skill; mindless optimism against all odds. It works for them as they got in early in 2016 (some even earlier) and from then to now, they all made a killing. For some of them it would literally have to drop to 0 for them to make losses. But I can see that it would be a drama for the ones who got in last year and went in with the same optimism.
- rosndo 5y ago
  > perceive this "new skill" to be Usually it’s technical analysis they “learn” from bullshit youtube videos.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    Or producing said bullshit YouTube videos to encourage others to "invest".
fivea 5y ago
From the article: > One man – a 33-year-old from Russia, who asked us not to share his name – told me he feels addicted to crypto, and is stuck in a cycle of trying to recover his losses but only losing more in the process. We are at a point in time where everyone needs to be honest with themselves and acknowledge that crypto in general is, at best, just gambling, and should be treated accordingly, including acknowledging the problem of gambling addiction.
- Kinrany 5y ago
  That's a property of any market that allows speculation, including stock market. Gambling has the distinction of being purposefully designed to make you lose money.
- rosndo 5y ago
  I use “crypto” (ew) to buy drugs and pay a couple of tax-evading employees salaries in DAI. I don’t think “crypto in general is, at best, just gambling” is fair, there are significant other uses.
  - jfengel 5y ago
    It's true. It's also good for money laundering and other illegal activities. But most people are just gambling.

11 points by baskethead 5y ago

livinglist 5y ago

where there’s winning there’s losing. people should know better and accept results of their own actions.

eesmith 5y ago
Since the result for some people is poor mental health, no they should NOT accept that result. They should work to get better, and get help in recognizing and avoiding the path that brought them there in the first place.
- Jerrrry 5y ago
  If you're "good day" depends on a ticker going up or down, that is in no way substantively different than addiction. If it is acceptable for +, then - is also on the table. Saying "feeling bad is poor mental health and shouldn't be accepted" is pretty much a _practically_ useless sentiment. If your dog dies, is it acceptable to grieve? Is that being in poor mental health? Is that acceptable? Shouldn't you take a Xanax and go back to work? The costs of individual liberty are becoming more apparent. This applies to self-directed investing as much as it does gun ownership, or bodily autonomy. If we can simply say it isn't acceptable...what good does that do?
  - eesmith 5y ago
    > that is in no way substantively different than addiction Yes, I agree with the article's multiple comparison's to addition. Eg, quoting it: "Like any addiction, crypto can offer people an escape from the world and a short-term dopamine hit at the expense of everything else in their life." > is pretty much a _practically_ useless sentiment Which is why I said "and get help in recognizing and avoiding the path that brought them there in the first place". Eg, again quoting the article: "Experts like Peter Klein, a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist who offers CBT for cryptocurrency-related mental health issues," > If your dog dies, is it acceptable to grieve? Yes. But if you're still grieving a year later, at 'the expense of everything else in [your] life' then it's a problem. > Shouldn't you take a Xanax and go back to work? Xanax is a prescription drug. Acquiring it legally means that you've gotten some help. I don't think CBT is as useful for the case you described, but that's a wild-ass guess on my part. > If we can simply say it isn't acceptable...what good does that do? I don't know. I didn't say that. Clearly we see approaches towards gambling addition more than "you get what you deserve", so I really don't see your underlying point.

RantyDave 5y ago

Hmmm. "Real" investing is not much better, go ask Palantir's shareholders.

rvz 5y ago
Depends when one bought in. I mean, just look at the responses about Cloudflare ($NET) [0] or even $DOGE [1] or BTC [2] then you can really see how out of tune their expectations were vs my expectations. Hardly a surprise to see that happen these days. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29355360 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29355360 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27046019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27046019 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27206314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27206314

fivea 5y ago

> Hashim Yasir, 19, is an NFT project founder and crypto trader who lost “a good amount of money” in the recent crash. He tells VICE that it affected his mental health for some time: “[Up until then] I felt like I was finally getting pretty confident with this new skill, but it really felt like the market was officially going to drop to zero.” I'm curious what he, and others like him, perceive this "new skill" to be, and exactly what led him to believe he had any degree of control over the outcome.

tluyben2 5y ago
I have multiple crypto trader acquaintances who send me pictures of complex dashboards showing the ‘moon’ predictions for FLURPCOIN2 and going ‘all in’. When the market slips down, they pop over a meme with something something HODLING diamond hands. This is the skill; mindless optimism against all odds. It works for them as they got in early in 2016 (some even earlier) and from then to now, they all made a killing. For some of them it would literally have to drop to 0 for them to make losses. But I can see that it would be a drama for the ones who got in last year and went in with the same optimism.
rosndo 5y ago
> perceive this "new skill" to be Usually it’s technical analysis they “learn” from bullshit youtube videos.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  Or producing said bullshit YouTube videos to encourage others to "invest".

fivea 5y ago

From the article: > One man – a 33-year-old from Russia, who asked us not to share his name – told me he feels addicted to crypto, and is stuck in a cycle of trying to recover his losses but only losing more in the process. We are at a point in time where everyone needs to be honest with themselves and acknowledge that crypto in general is, at best, just gambling, and should be treated accordingly, including acknowledging the problem of gambling addiction.

Kinrany 5y ago
That's a property of any market that allows speculation, including stock market. Gambling has the distinction of being purposefully designed to make you lose money.
rosndo 5y ago
I use “crypto” (ew) to buy drugs and pay a couple of tax-evading employees salaries in DAI. I don’t think “crypto in general is, at best, just gambling” is fair, there are significant other uses.
- jfengel 5y ago
  It's true. It's also good for money laundering and other illegal activities. But most people are just gambling.