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This is a very kind comment. In situations like this, they often won't help themselves. I recently went through it with a close friend. https://twitter.com/the

This is a very kind comment. In situations like this, they often won't help themselves. I recently went through it with a close friend. https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1602163797560627201 https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1602163797560627201 My wife went through it with a family member. I just wanted to reassure you that even if your comment has no effect, it's not "your fault" -- it turns out that there's ~nothing anyone can do, short of dragging them to the hospital. Once our family member was hospitalized and started taking medication (they initially refused), he snapped out of it very quickly. Less than a week, I think. But it was very difficult to get them into the hospital in the first place. In my friend's case, he believed that everyone in his apartment was going to attack him; in my family member's case, they thought that black cars were full of agents trying to get them; and it appears that in OP's case, he feels that YC's out to get him, when it's anything but. It's often just one of those sad situations where we can't do anything but be kind and empathetic.

reducesuffering 4y ago
I didn't feel very kind, but thank you. I've lost count of how many people I've seen on HN teeter on homelessness because of obvious mental health issues, sometimes causing past felonies. I'm at a loss why it seems so much more prevalent these days, but it's heartbreaking and concerning that it's possible for any of us to eventually mentally break.
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  I sensed you might not, so I wanted to thank you for the attempt. You have a good heart, and your comment really shows it. For what it’s worth, HN has a long history of this kind of thing. It’s probably more frequent now because HN has grown several orders of magnitude in a relatively short time. (You can get a feel for this by graphing item IDs vs time. I haven’t done it, but I bet it’s a steep J curve.) Totally agreed about how surprising it is that anyone can break. The other aspect is, they’re not broken — there’s a chance they’ll take your advice and turn their life around. It’s a terrible illness that people can recover from. Like you, I hope he does, especially for his family’s sake. Take care; have a great weekend.

reducesuffering 4y ago

I didn't feel very kind, but thank you. I've lost count of how many people I've seen on HN teeter on homelessness because of obvious mental health issues, sometimes causing past felonies. I'm at a loss why it seems so much more prevalent these days, but it's heartbreaking and concerning that it's possible for any of us to eventually mentally break.

sillysaurusx 4y ago
I sensed you might not, so I wanted to thank you for the attempt. You have a good heart, and your comment really shows it. For what it’s worth, HN has a long history of this kind of thing. It’s probably more frequent now because HN has grown several orders of magnitude in a relatively short time. (You can get a feel for this by graphing item IDs vs time. I haven’t done it, but I bet it’s a steep J curve.) Totally agreed about how surprising it is that anyone can break. The other aspect is, they’re not broken — there’s a chance they’ll take your advice and turn their life around. It’s a terrible illness that people can recover from. Like you, I hope he does, especially for his family’s sake. Take care; have a great weekend.