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Comment by nxmnxm99 | Hacker News Reader

> This recurrent story where extremely intelligent people are battling mental health issues and cannot speak out because the stigma behind this issue is too damaging is why we need to normalize the discourse around mental health if we want to avoid this type of tragedies.

Where exactly is the "stigma" of mental health in tech nowadays? We're blasted day and night to the point where apparently every other person is "battling mental health issues".

Maybe there's a deeper issue here than "stigma" and seeing overpriced therapists.

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I mean, given the demands of modern society, I wouldn’t be surprised if every other person was honestly battling some kind of mental health issues at some point.

I mean hell, it’s tough enough being sentient and dealing with mortality, throw in social issues, politics, propaganda, conspiracies, lack of health care, lack of social safety nets, caring for dependents, dating, paying bills, social media, “Instagram culture,” and a god damn pandemic. It’s rough out there.

Look a few generations back and reset your worldview. Been drafted into combat lately?

I agree. The good old days were terrible. No doubt many suffered through considerable mental anguish. Unfortunately, this knowledge does not usually help people currently living with depression or similar mental illness.

It’s like, “I can’t pay my mortgage and I don’t where my family will live, but Grandpa was a POW in Nam, so no worries!”

Yeah, doesn't take it away but that perspective can make it more bearable. "Things could be worse" is a real way to cope with stress.

Man, grandpa was a POW in 'Nam makes me feel so old. Who's grandparents on this forum are young enough to be in Vietnam?

> I mean, given the demands of modern society

Modern society is the easiest society that has ever existed. And that's true nearly world-wide. People have never been better off or worked fewer hours at the median. In modern - affluent - society, it's that people have become soft, weak, fragile. The times are not harder, they're easier. People in affluent nations have never been more coddled and protected.

What demands are you talking about? Influencers pressuring people to have whiter smiles on Instagram or better abs on TikTok? Someone getting their feelings hurt on Facebook?

In the US things were dramatically worse for the bottom 1/2 as recently as the 1970s and earlier. Look up the poverty and hunger rates/issues in the US across the century from 1870-1970. It was barbaric compared to now. The same is true for violent crime, homelessness, and so on. The past 30-40 years have been amazing compared to the past and that holds true for the most of the world. In affluent nations you have a vast number of exceptionally spoiled people that have known very little suffering.

It's only easy if you consider living on welfare or being homeless as acceptable options.

>What demands are you talking about? Influencers pressuring people to have whiter smiles on Instagram or better abs on TikTok? Someone getting their feelings hurt on Facebook?

Getting a college degree is stressful and many people quit. Choosing the right one is also a challenge in it's own right. If you fail at this you will be in debt and lost an opportunity to join the workforce early. Current monetary policies are basically extremely pro business at the expense of workers (current first world economies are fundamentally flawed and 2008 just made it obvious). A lot of people have poor employment options through no fault of their own. They are simply declared unneeded because of how the economy is structured.

It's easier to survive but it's much harder to stay sane.

9/10 people on Earth reading this are cringing because of how privileged it sounds. The complaints you’re describing are for babies.

That it has gone from extremely shite to very shite is not something that can just be translated to "people have become soft, weak, fragile". Suffering looks different now. It's a lazy take to conclude that people must have become weak when the technological progress haven't produced the dignified and easy life of what previous generations hoped it would. Instead we just keep producing and consuming in an endless ever expanding circle, skipping the freedom of leisure for all part.

You know where you don't see every other person crying about mental health on their iPhone? The entire developing world.

This isn't a mental health crisis. Westerners are just babies.

There is no stigma in the pretty words from HR and massive stigma in the actions of HR

What does HR have to do with anything/?

They can tell us about their fruit baskets and flat hierarchies.

HR is often a great example of how fucked it all is. (Good humane HR is rare)

HR is the conservative arm of execs. They're responsible for setting company policies that reduce the risk of employee disputes and increase the chance of employees staying productive. That's why they say "HR isn't your friend". They have an outsized impact in large, chaotic companies and as a result they end up shaping the culture. HR is the lackey serving the demands of the capitalist machine.

If you admit you are chronically ill in the workplace you admit you won't ever be as productive as other "healthy" (aka those who didn't admit they are ill) employees. During layoffs you'll be the first to go.

Exactly this. It's all we care then if it impacts your work - boom you're out.

In my experience, there is is no stigma around saying you have a mental health issue, but still still the expectation that it not impact you work.

I tend to agree that the issue isn’t discourse, but that Discourse alone won’t fix the problem.

As others have said, people seem comfortable enough to talk about mental health in an abstract way, but less so about their particular needs.

You seem to have a particularly skeptical view though doubting stigma and casting doubt into therapy as well. Your comment is actually a perfect example of stigma.

I’ve struggled with anxiety before and saw a therapist for a while and benefited greatly from it. It was expensive, sure, but not over priced. Less hourly than I make.

I didn’t really talk about it much at work, but I am open about it now.

On top of that, there are less stigma towards certain aspects of mental health and more towards others. I believe anxiety, like I mentioned for myself, is becoming a more commonly discussed topic, but depression or bipolar, for example, still carry stigma that push people into facing these things alone.

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