5 ms·

"Everyone I met in this predicament, it was due to severe mental illness (like, schitzophrenia, etc) or a severe substance abuse issue." I understand your situ

"Everyone I met in this predicament, it was due to severe mental illness (like, schitzophrenia, etc) or a severe substance abuse issue." I understand your situation can be incredibly stressful, but have you been evaluated by a mental health professional? I see quite a few disconnected thoughts here that I'm having trouble making sense of. In addition notions of being persecuted, discarded, etc, esp. linked to taking part in social causes. I'm certainly not a medical professional myself but it seems similar to a schizophrenic I've known in the past. It might be the case that getting a handle on this, esp. if it comes to a medical intervention, might be a good first step. Also just a note, the mention of "hard drugs"... if you're doing anything w/ THC I would stop that immediately as it can greatly exacerbate symptoms.

sshine 3y ago
> if you're doing anything w/ THC I would stop that immediately I would say the same. I don’t get any schizo vibe, though. Only a great deal of feeling victimised. >> am I just a signal in the noise to be discarded when I'm no longer useful? […] Why won't anyone help me? It sounds like you feel abandoned by your family and that this keeps you in such a distressed state that it prevents you from operating. It may be that you are quite alone in this world right now. I would suggest finding someone locally that you can connect to, who can guide you to a path where you feel emotionally secure. If this is how you enter a job interview, you need to cover your bases in Maslow’s pyramid a bit more. I understand the dichotomy, but the root cause is emotional, not economic.
- drycobbler 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - clubm8 3y ago
    >Yesterday they commented about warning the CIA. A personal preoccupation with the CIA is a common delusion for Americans. Sean "vilerat" Smith connected me with my PhD. I worked for a CMU professor prior to grad school. I had multiple people advise me I should do NSA or State. Please don't conflate having had too much tea with psychosis, especially when it's someone like me who literally sat down with someone from the CERT insider threat team for coffee to discuss career paths pre-Snowden.
    - yowlingcat 3y ago
      > especially when it's someone like me who literally sat down with someone from the CERT insider threat team for coffee to discuss career paths pre-Snowden. You have an delusional and inflated sense of self worth because you cannot even discern the difference between being in the recruitment pipeline and being the star player. If you take a brief glance in the mirror, you'll realize why you couldn't make it from the former to the latter.
- anakaine 3y ago
  I'm also going to support this. As a regular interviewer, signs of instability are a pretty big flag when I'm looking to address team fit, culture, and overall cohesion. Certain bits of activism can be looked past, but if it's a piece of core identity I'm going to shy away. Talk of having others fired and prosecuted, similarly. I don't want the drama of having to deal with someone with mental health issues, low self esteem, a victim mentality, and a history of making complaints. For me, that's a risk, even if your history in this space was all justified. Lock that stuff up and do not mention it. The victim mentality may or may not be swaying your language, so make sure you start to address those thoughts and work through them. Begin with recognising your thoughts of the past and wrongdoing, and say to yourself that the past is the past, I'm going to move on, then turn your thoughts to the future. Plan for a better you. These things are hard and require constant thought. Your words and post scare me as an employer who has had to turn culture around, and who has more than once built a workplace that people seem to be quite happy with. As others have said, get some medical help, skip the soft drugs too, and work on your mental state. Ask for feedback after interviews, and listen to what is being said and the undertones of what isn't being said. Use it to better your approach next time.
clubm8 3y ago
>I understand your situation can be incredibly stressful, but have you been evaluated by a mental health professional? Yes -- part of the issue was here was that the local health care monopoly doesn't really have a vested interest in helping, since the candidate I got elected immediately went through >t might be the case that getting a handle on this, esp. if it comes to a medical intervention, might be a good first step. Also just a note, the mention of "hard drugs"... if you're doing anything w/ THC I would stop that immediately as it can greatly exacerbate symptoms. I've had the opposite experience -- THC helps when alaprazolam (which I had a script for) -- but if you accept a medical card, people start interacting in ways I hadn't encountered since the 90s. I was told I should get a job, avoid my family but... the HN crowd didn't help, so I have days like today where I have too much caffeine and it comes off as much more mentally ill. (I had been told I'd be starting as a dishwasher on Monday. Someone yanked the offer. I'd have preferred to take a xanax or a joint, and instead I ended up pouding tea and reading to wait for the rain to pass... kind of a least worse decision) I actually got the original medical card via a therapist. Again, this is a situation where folks gamify my ability to make good decisions. It's shitty, and extortionary, and makes me less sympathetic when folks spaz out like the tree of life guy did.
- drycobbler 3y ago
  Call the mental health crisis line, please. You don’t need to stop cannabis because it’s bad or you are bad. Stopping cannabis will help you achieve your goal of a stable living situation with stable employment. Please try it.
  - clubm8 3y ago
    I'm not on cannabis? I feel like you're telling me to not use things that help. (I regret not keeping the alaprazolam script, but... when you take that drug, you're set up for twice the anxiety when it wears off) I'm angry and frustrated I'm economically precarious, and have folks like you say "call a crisis line" when I tried that prior -- I was forced to rely on my (abusive) family for support. Do you want to extend help, or be adversarial? I can be adversarial if you prefer that. Or maybe... crazy idea, someone connects me with a recruiter :-)

sshine 3y ago

> if you're doing anything w/ THC I would stop that immediately I would say the same. I don’t get any schizo vibe, though. Only a great deal of feeling victimised. >> am I just a signal in the noise to be discarded when I'm no longer useful? […] Why won't anyone help me? It sounds like you feel abandoned by your family and that this keeps you in such a distressed state that it prevents you from operating. It may be that you are quite alone in this world right now. I would suggest finding someone locally that you can connect to, who can guide you to a path where you feel emotionally secure. If this is how you enter a job interview, you need to cover your bases in Maslow’s pyramid a bit more. I understand the dichotomy, but the root cause is emotional, not economic.

drycobbler 3y ago
[flagged]
- clubm8 3y ago
  >Yesterday they commented about warning the CIA. A personal preoccupation with the CIA is a common delusion for Americans. Sean "vilerat" Smith connected me with my PhD. I worked for a CMU professor prior to grad school. I had multiple people advise me I should do NSA or State. Please don't conflate having had too much tea with psychosis, especially when it's someone like me who literally sat down with someone from the CERT insider threat team for coffee to discuss career paths pre-Snowden.
  - yowlingcat 3y ago
    > especially when it's someone like me who literally sat down with someone from the CERT insider threat team for coffee to discuss career paths pre-Snowden. You have an delusional and inflated sense of self worth because you cannot even discern the difference between being in the recruitment pipeline and being the star player. If you take a brief glance in the mirror, you'll realize why you couldn't make it from the former to the latter.
anakaine 3y ago
I'm also going to support this. As a regular interviewer, signs of instability are a pretty big flag when I'm looking to address team fit, culture, and overall cohesion. Certain bits of activism can be looked past, but if it's a piece of core identity I'm going to shy away. Talk of having others fired and prosecuted, similarly. I don't want the drama of having to deal with someone with mental health issues, low self esteem, a victim mentality, and a history of making complaints. For me, that's a risk, even if your history in this space was all justified. Lock that stuff up and do not mention it. The victim mentality may or may not be swaying your language, so make sure you start to address those thoughts and work through them. Begin with recognising your thoughts of the past and wrongdoing, and say to yourself that the past is the past, I'm going to move on, then turn your thoughts to the future. Plan for a better you. These things are hard and require constant thought. Your words and post scare me as an employer who has had to turn culture around, and who has more than once built a workplace that people seem to be quite happy with. As others have said, get some medical help, skip the soft drugs too, and work on your mental state. Ask for feedback after interviews, and listen to what is being said and the undertones of what isn't being said. Use it to better your approach next time.

clubm8 3y ago

>I understand your situation can be incredibly stressful, but have you been evaluated by a mental health professional? Yes -- part of the issue was here was that the local health care monopoly doesn't really have a vested interest in helping, since the candidate I got elected immediately went through >t might be the case that getting a handle on this, esp. if it comes to a medical intervention, might be a good first step. Also just a note, the mention of "hard drugs"... if you're doing anything w/ THC I would stop that immediately as it can greatly exacerbate symptoms. I've had the opposite experience -- THC helps when alaprazolam (which I had a script for) -- but if you accept a medical card, people start interacting in ways I hadn't encountered since the 90s. I was told I should get a job, avoid my family but... the HN crowd didn't help, so I have days like today where I have too much caffeine and it comes off as much more mentally ill. (I had been told I'd be starting as a dishwasher on Monday. Someone yanked the offer. I'd have preferred to take a xanax or a joint, and instead I ended up pouding tea and reading to wait for the rain to pass... kind of a least worse decision) I actually got the original medical card via a therapist. Again, this is a situation where folks gamify my ability to make good decisions. It's shitty, and extortionary, and makes me less sympathetic when folks spaz out like the tree of life guy did.

drycobbler 3y ago
Call the mental health crisis line, please. You don’t need to stop cannabis because it’s bad or you are bad. Stopping cannabis will help you achieve your goal of a stable living situation with stable employment. Please try it.
- clubm8 3y ago
  I'm not on cannabis? I feel like you're telling me to not use things that help. (I regret not keeping the alaprazolam script, but... when you take that drug, you're set up for twice the anxiety when it wears off) I'm angry and frustrated I'm economically precarious, and have folks like you say "call a crisis line" when I tried that prior -- I was forced to rely on my (abusive) family for support. Do you want to extend help, or be adversarial? I can be adversarial if you prefer that. Or maybe... crazy idea, someone connects me with a recruiter :-)