Hacker News Comments on
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
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All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.> How exactly to do that is the tricky part, thoughA good start might be with the book "Learned Optimism" from Martin Seligman — http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/0....
He argues that most depression is just severe learned helplessness caused by your own pessimistic inner explanations of why events happened. He makes a good case for it & suggests techniques to build better explanatory habits. I haven't finished the book yet but so far it's quite compelling.
⬐ raganwaldI don’t know if it is helpful with suicidal thoughts, but Learned Optimism has helped me with a more generalized despondency and helplessness:https://github.com/raganwald/homoiconic/blob/master/2009-05-...
My won feelings about helplessness learning to play Go parallel feelings if helplessness in my life trying other things where it felt like I had no idea what I was doing and no control over the outcome:
https://github.com/raganwald/homoiconic/blob/master/2009-10-...
Again, I don’t know if any of this is helpful when someone is at the point of contemplating ending their own life.
⬐ seigenbluesGo is a great mirror; i'm glad it played a role -- even if an antagonistic one ;) -- in such a positive result.⬐ smhinseyObviously since you posted this 21 minutes ago I haven't exactly had the time to get into it seriously, but reading that inspired me to check out Learned Optimism and just reading the first chapter it speaks to my personal struggle. Thanks.
I'd recommend reading Martin Seligman's "Learned Optimism" book when you have a chance, as it would be very helpful in reframing the way you think about your experience:http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/0...
Learned Optimism.Seriously. Seligman wrote a great book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/0...
⬐ billswiftI started reading this back when it was new, but quit fairly early on, when the author wrote that pessimists had a much more accurate view of reality than optimists.I wrote a post in March of last year, Optimism - Dangers and Benefits, http://williambswift.blogspot.com/2009/03/optimism-is-not-ne...