David Foster Wallace on Depression

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[@pod9363]

"You would think with access to a great economy-"

[@johngosland]

I found that so fucking funny lol

[@jamesskinnercouk]

I think it’s a matter of perspective ie how great is the bank account you have access to.

[@comebackqing8452]

No wonder he thinks life circumstances can't cause depression. He lives in his own world apparently lol

[@Wingedmagician]

love him but what was that moment 😅

[@pod9363]

@@Wingedmagician might live in a pro-state academia environment

[@whoaitstiger]

As Alan Watts said people with depression don't think the world is empty and meaningless. They think it's a conspiracy of horrors.

[@MichaelHickman3D]

You’re unbelievably consistent!!!!! Amazing job!!

[@bathcat3759]

I’m clinically depressed. Wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. It may not be popular, but SSRI truly saved my life. Just a shame they’re being over prescribed

[@justmadeit2]

Which one helped for you? I’m scared to take the one I’m prescribed. I’m very depressed and scared

[@bathcat3759]

@@justmadeit2 I personally take Remeron. But I’m not a doctor nor a psychiatrist. If you’re really dealing with clinical depression I would suggest trying them until you find the right one. Might be a bumpy road, but it’s the only light at the end of the tunnel. But if you’re not, and I hope you’re not, you just gotta start getting active. I wish you luck

[@justmadeit2]

@@bathcat3759 How long before it started working?

[@bathcat3759]

@@justmadeit2 maybe a week or two after I started taking it? At that point in my life I had just been released from my second stay at the hospital. I had tried other SSRI’s but they didn’t work. I was also measuring my weeks by how many “good days” I had. A “good” day was a day in which I thought about killing myself maybe once or twice. I started to notice that I had a lot of good days in my week and, for the first time in 7 years, I went a whole week without wanting to kms. I don’t want to give you false hope. And I really don’t want you to go on drugs unless you have to. But for me, there was no other choice. I can’t guarantee you anything and I would always recommend talking to a psychiatrist. But I won’t lie it helped me. It raised my baseline so I can be normal again. I still had problems but they wouldn’t send me into a blind spiral of depression. I wish you luck my friend

[@mattheww797]

I can see david foster eating icecream and listening to cat stevens while crying

[@someokiedude9549]

I remember when I was a young kid in a big church where there were a bunch of kids running around, I had this dark, bleak feeling that no one will ever love me. That feeling still follows me to this day. I've considered taking my own life when it felt like it was too much several years ago, but I managed to get past all that. I actually recorded a video a few weeks back where I discussed some of my mental health problems with a good friend of mine. I generally don't like saying I'm mentally ill, I think calling it 'chronic psychic pain' describes it fair better...at least for me that is. That's one of the reasons I wanted to read Wallace, since he is very familiar with what depression is like and sadly he lost the battle. That's how I view depression anyway. It's a battle. It's a war you fight every day with your mind and yourself. There's some people who can find ways to live with it, and unfortunately there are those who lose the battle. It's a day at a time thing, sometimes you gotta remember it's a good day. Great video as always Ian.

[@timmellis5038]

I use to type up Doctors' notes for a job, thousands or tens or hundreds of thousands of notes all regarding patients (John Doe et cetera). I started to notice that almost all of them are depressed and almost all of them have anxiety. I've had depression my whole life. It sucks. I think if humans were living by our 'natural way,' depression wouldn't be a thing. In other words, it comes from our system. And I have no idea what our 'natural way' is (of course there are a billion people willing to sit us down and explain to us what it is. The problem is they have no clue, just ego). Perhaps we are like a lion cub born in a zoo who is a fourth generation lion all born in zoos. And then someone comes along and says: "Hey you come from Africa and have no bars." "WTF is Africa?"

[@NJGuy1973]

Did you read "The Depressed Person?" Wallace based the character on Elizabeth Wurtzel.

[@CINEMARTYR]

“Babe wake up, new Write Conscious backdrop just dropped!”

[@cosmospray]

What would you advise more precisely to women ? because I can see that you targeted more your male audience which seems to be a majority of men as you said in previous videos (sorry for my bad english it's not main first langage)

[@WriteConscious]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmfdkp2Zq9mqis0 This book and here is a companion podcast

[@cosmospray]

@@WriteConscious thank you ! 🙏☀️☀️☀️👍🏻

[@dougparsley9022]

I'm been unemployed since 2017 and that's through choice. I get a cheque from social security every fortnight and they literally never bother me about it. I decided I wanted to pursue things I enjoy. I do a bit of voluntary work at an arts centre in town and it's allowed me to do some dj'ing for actual money. I like having lots of free time but it also means I feel quite miserable a lot. But that's to be expected. Your future isn't just down to you. There are social factors working to make your life what it is. So the bad stuff? Blame the government and shit like Brexit 😊

[@croinkix]

I've always felt lame,out of touch...etc for not taking alcohol, weed or nicotine this video made me rethink all that knowing myself I'd be finished.

[@milliebays1801]

The world changed too fast. Living in the last days

[@R.L.Kramer]

When I was skeeed out on adderall editing a documentary film I shot after finishing film school and riding my bicycle across the United States. My girlfriend impels me immediately when I got back from the bike trip and I hauled up to a cabin in the woods in winter PA and got back on adderall to finish the film and all the footage haunted me and I just made music and played angry birds. I went weeks without SEEING ANOTHER PERSON. This depression folded onto itself and I was sad that I knew I had a solid foundation to never follow through ideation. I didn’t know how to go forward so I tried to hide all over the present moment. If not regretting a cross country bike trip that devastated my heart.

[@tzirufim]

Hi Ian, thanks so much for all your work, I really enjoy your videos. Can you recommend any particular book to get into Tom Robbins' work?

[@WriteConscious]

Still Life with Woodpecker is a good intro

[@WriteConscious]

Have a full book breakdown on the channel when you finish

[@MarcosGonzalez-cs7nl]

"Overthinking is what led you into the problem you are now". This really touched me personally, it also brings me to the "This is water" speech, specifically when Wallace says: "anything you worship will eat you alive." In my family I don't stand out particularly for anything. My older brother was always more charismatic and better at sports, my father is typical "jack of all trades" who can fix anything you put in front of him and is excellent with manual labor. So the intellectual world seemed like "the natural destiny for me" and I did, I was the first person to graduate from college in the history of my family. But what came with that was a kind of vice where, thanks to hours and hours of academic reading on philosophy and psychology, I cannot communicate with people who are not at that intellectual level, I really struggle with it because I can't communicate like a normal human being, much like what happens to Hal Incadenza.

[@kennethobrien8386]

Interesting content.

[@Wingedmagician]

I literally have been writing that its a horror. It’s the subjective experience of a horror. Cool to see that quote.

[@AleksandarBloom]

Oi, Ian. Please recommend us some solid secondary literature on Wallace.

[@sillythekid7380]

Holly shit I think I just realized I'm a maximalist writer. Wallis.

[@bradlygray1974]

Thank you for devoting so much of your time into this. I'm sure it sucks a lot of days, yet you still upload engaged and passionate lectures regularly.

[@zacnewford]

What’s a good way to tackle emotional education? Journaling?

[@JCPJCPJCP]

"Darkness Visible," William Styron.

[@ZacharyThomasP]

At first I found your persona overzealous until I found out you were from Tucson and it all started to make sense. When I was fifteen my mom sent me to live with my uncle there for a year. The people there always have an artsy spirit to them. 4th Ave or Congress type of folks. But I’ve always found them genuine or kindhearted. Never doubting their expressions. Maybe that’s my small experience with the city. But I find you to be the genuine article of unabashed expression.

[@ZacharyThomasP]

One more thing. Off of 4th on university there’s a place called Time Market which has some amazing pizza and coffee. Definitely a gem in the city. Living in Bangkok right now and miss good pizza.

[@TheGoodMD]

Ian is legit. If you ever go to his office hours (you can find the times on his substack) you can have a conversation with this guy. He’s very genuine and super knowledgeable!

[@CINEMARTYR]

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