Ask HN: Depression

All those things are contributing to depression and also likely to cause each other and be caused by depression.

You should get a professional who can spend a good hour or two listening to more details of your situation in order to actually help you, as otherwise you'll get a lot of people saying "well stop abusing substances, work less, sleep more, and definitely don't use AI outside work hours", which will work as well as telling an obese person to just eat less.

I was in a similar place ~6 years ago, so not AI-based but still depressed. I tried therapy for 2-3 years and personally didn’t find it helpful. My problem is overthinking and dwelling on things, so I think it was counterproductive to spend dedicated time every week talking about why I was depressed. However, I’d still recommend trying it since it’s obviously helpful for a lot of people. Just don’t get too discouraged if it doesn’t work for you.

I tried improving diet/exercise/sleep like the other commenters suggest, but of course the depression makes that nearly impossible. The only thing that actually helped me was burning all the way out, quitting my job, and going back to blue collar work. I don’t work from home anymore and I make less than half of what I made as a dev, so it was a big lifestyle change, but I wish I had done it years earlier.

Anyway, I hope you figure out what works for you. I wasted a lot of my life being depressed and I hate to see others going through it.

Professional help, medication. Please get some help, and I hope you feel better.

I know it sounds cliche, but exercise. And medication. Most importantly, you need to stop whatever substance you’ve been abusing. Those only ever make things worse.

take a pause, reflect on your life and your purpose, believe in your creator and why he created you