Comment by _ywdj | Hacker News Reader

Comment by _ywdj | Hacker News Reader

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I think it's related to the notion that depression (and burnout and other chronic states of negative emotion and low energy) is caused by a lack of optimism - or a lack of things to feel optimistic about.

From an evolutionary point of view, if we're not inspired and excited about what we're doing now or what we expect to be doing in the near future, it makes sense to go into energy conservation/restoration mode and go to sleep.

Similarly, over the long term, if we aren't inspired by the life we see ahead of us, it's best to go into energy preservation and contemplation mode while we try to figure out how to get onto a better path (and if we can't find one, we end up in chronic/deep depression/despair).

I've overcome depression (and come off meds) by developing/learning techniques for finding optimism any time things seem bleak.

If you find optimism in the thing you were pessimistic about before that’s ideal. But if you can’t, how do you switch to not caring about it and switch to something else that you can be optimistic about ? It’s hard to know when to quit.

Yeah, that's all part of the technique; breaking down the issue, understanding why you're having negative emotional reactions to it, and deciding whether the problem is your emotional reaction (in which case, change that), or the outer-world situation (in which case, figure out the steps needed to change the situation).

It's taken a while to learn it (indeed I'm still learning it), but it's powerful the more it starts to click.

That sounds very interesting. Would you happen to have any pointers (i.e. books, links etc.) for anyone interested in learning more?

Not really any books - I think I'm going to have to write one! My approach comes from a variety of different sources - mostly in-person coaching from practitioners.

But you're welcome to email me (address in profile) and I can send you some links and suggestions.

This sounds a lot like what I learned going through the Headspace introductory meditations. I'd give them a look if you haven't already, it's a great program.

This comment rings so much truth for me, in my past 2 years on wall street tech world.

Comforting to see it written by another person.

That's quite an interesting take on how to counteract depressive states. Do you know if there are any academic publications that have similar findings? I think this needs to be explored further, because this sounds prima facie credible.

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