Developers, entrepreneurs and depression. You are not alone

http://thebln.com/2013/11/developers-entrepreneurs-depression-no-you-are-not-alone/?hn

by marklittlewood • 13 years ago

18 6 13 years ago

mylons• 13 years ago

I was hoping to see a lot of comments here. However, I immediately realized why there aren't any. So, I'm going to break the ice and say I related with this, and thanks for posting it.

marklittlewood3• 13 years ago

It takes courage to speak up. Thank you.

angle943• 13 years ago

This video was such a breath of fresh air for me. I also am struggling with similar problems that the speaker went through. Also, and I think many readers can relate, the analytical side of me tends to downplay all these psychological disorders. I see these disorders as "laziness" and "weaknesses", and often times I find myself telling myself and telling others to "man up".

marklittlewood3• 13 years ago

A huge percentage of the population does. You are not alone. It is not weakness, laziness or anything else. Appreciate your honesty.

Ironically, one of the reasons that many men don't seek the help and support they need is that they are too busy looking after everything else in their life - their career, their startup, their partner, their children etc that they end up relegating their own problems into last place on their To Do List and if you are anything like me, the last thing on your to Do List never gets done.

gregorymichael• 13 years ago

Speaker here. Seriously, ping me if you want to chat about this stuff: greg@tablexi.com.

To those who were hoping for more discussion, check DevPressed [1], or the comments on this /r/programming thread [2] from a few months back. For help finding a professional check the resources page at DevsAndDepression [3].

1. http://www.devpressed.com

2. http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1kx5fx/devs_and...

3. http://www.devsanddepression.com/resources

marklittlewood3• 13 years ago

One of the interesting things about this talk is it gave a number of other people, many of them very high profile, successful entrepreneurs, heroes in the industry, to acknowledge publicly, (and possibly even privately), for the first time, that they can relate very personally to the issues raised.

There is a stigma attached to mental health issues that does make it incredibly hard to speak up. People do think that they will be seen as 'weak', 'lazy' or their issues are not important enough to bother anyone else. Anyone in the room that heard that talk recognised that Greg was the opposite - strong, brave and dealing with the issues without losing the essence that makes him, him.

Developers, entrepreneurs and depression. You are not alone

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