NOTE: If we're off-topic here, someone let me know, k? I'm trying to decide if
'depression among geeks' counts as a women/linux issue. We are mostly talking
about women in the linux community (ourselves) but still... I'm afraid of moving
the conversation over to [grrltalk] due to the large amount of people on
[issues] who are not subscribed to [grrtalk]. (which, btw, in case no one as
said anything yet, has quieted down some and is _much_ quieter than [issues] and
[techtalk])
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> And the discussion swings back to the topic:
>
> I really REALLY hate anti-depressants, at least the ones they've tried on
> me.
>
> Either my ability to focus thoughts goes away, or I get a fog around my
> head and thinking has to push through it. And being /so/ geekish that
> my intelligence is one of my prime sources of self-esteem, anything which
> handicaps that is worse than the original depression.
>
> So anti-depressants depress me. Ain't that paradoxical?
>
> Any other geeks find that?
You know what's strange? (but maybe it's not so strange, really) I find the
ratio of depressed to non-depressed people is _much_ higher in the geek
community. Almost everyone I know who's seriously into computers has some kind
of depression or bi-polar disorder. I wonder why that is? I don't think being
'into' the computer culture causes depression (although many jobs are indeed
stressful and could be the cause of some mental duress) but rather the computer
culture seems to attract people with depression/bi-polar/other mental disorders.
Discuss!
I'm no exception: I was diagnosed as being clinically depressed a year and a
half ago. I reluctantly spent a few months on anti-depressants - 20mg of Prozac,
which is a very mild dose by Prozac standards - until that veil of gloom lifted
enough to give me a head start. Then, after realizing that my doctor was more
obsessed with my weight than my depression (trying to put me on all-water diets
and such, threatening to stop seeing me if I didn't lose 6lbs in two weeks, etc
- all to lose 50lbs) I left and stopped my medication. I promised myself if I
exhibited any signs of slipping back into depression that I would seek new
medical aid. But by eating well, talking to good friends and exercising a few
times a week, I've managed to keep the depression at bay without the need for
drugs, which was my ultimate goal :)
Although there were some side effects when I started the Prozac (dizziness and
nausea being the main ones) I must say that it really worked for me! However,
after a while it started to cause me much anxiety, which quickly went away after
I stopped the medication. I find the anti-deps helped me enormously and gave me
enough of a head start that I could crawl out of that dark hole I was in. I
think they are definately over-prescribed (as much as ADHD is over-diagnosed,
IMO), but if they are properly administered they can (not always) do wonders for
the patient.
Laters :)
Amanda
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[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
