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Comment by mewpmewp2 | Hacker News Reader

From my own anecdotal perspective, I have a depression/anxiety diagnosis, and may have at times had suicidal thoughts, but I would have never really acted on them.

For me, life got easier and less stress free, mainly because I don't ever have to go outside and I got to work from home, which pretty much solved the "social anxiety" issue for me. I never felt comfortable at office and felt always stressed. So I've been happy and relieved about being locked in.

Whether it's good in the long term, I'm not sure however, because I will get even less experience putting myself out there.

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While recognising the possible “long term” challenge of not putting yourself out there, are you going to be able to sustain some of this new way of working post-COVID? (Ie primarily working from home). It seems like it’s good for you.

I found a similar experience. Working from home is VERY good for my mental health. My anxiety almost disappeared completely at times.

My dilemma is similar to yours. I have the ability to work from home forever now and never attend another in-person meeting again (became self-employed during COVID).

However, like you, I recognise that I’ll need to ensure I don’t become a complete recluse and never leave the apartment! :)

I have depression and anxiety and the pandemic ended up helping me a lot. Yeah, the isolation sucked, but it did help my anxiety a bit when I stayed to myself.

During that time of reduced anxiety, I was able to introspect a bit more without external stressors and was able to identify some trauma that led to the depression and anxiety -- something that I wasn't even aware was affecting me.

I really don't know how to actually deal with said trauma, so I'll be going to therapy for that, but I think the lessons I learned and the benefits I gained will stick with me since I'm taking concrete steps to deal with it now that I've identified a problem.

Without the year long pause we all went through I'm not sure I would have had the time to sort through my brain so thoroughly.

Congrats on the positive steps you’re taking, following that bit of introspection!

> Without the year long pause we all went through I'm not sure I would have had the time to sort through my brain so thoroughly.

I feel exactly the same way.

Re: therapy, if you haven’t done it before, be prepared that you might need to try a couple of different therapists to get the right fit. But it sounds like the absolute right thing for you to be doing. You definitely need someone to work through it with you.

Good luck!

Yeah, it's weird the author didn't discuss these positive aspects of the lockdowns and other measures.

There's plenty of mention and data to support it, like decreased number of miscarriages.

Anecdotally, I know a number of Alzheimer patients in care facilities did much better when their families weren't allowed to visit them. Painful of course, but probably just related to 'normal' life in these homes being too crazy and them needing more quiet space. Others did worse.

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