Depression: an obstacle to learning LO10949

Anonymous (anon@karash.com)
11 Nov 96 12:04:15 EST

Regarding anonymous' brave admissions from LO10937:

Depression is a major concern these days. Maybe no one is talking about
it, certainly within an organization, but with millions on Prosac and
other anti-depressants, the issue is a major one.

I, too, have had my battles with depression, for one reason or another,
for most of my life. It prevented me from following an academic path that
would have furthered my work, and kept me third or forth string for years.
I didn't recognize it as such for years but I made my choices based on
this oppressive dark cloud.

Life is too complicated these days. After saying this, I can also say,
"So What? Deal with it." But my feeling is that the lack of community and
need to appear perfect and work like a machines is putting too much
pressure on the delicate human organism. We are out of balance. Last week
my daughter worked fourty-eight hours and has no life. As she is in her
twenties, she is still capable of handling this life out of balance. But
for how long? Where is there time for laughter, nature, exercise,
intimacy? Time to contemplate? Time? To be successful, it seems we must
sacrifice our humanness and become like the computers that we invented.
Whose in charge? It it a world out of control taken over by machines and
their work ethic, their fast pace. I know why I have friends who are
afraid to get involved with computers and have resisted technology.

I think forums like this are a valuable tool for expressing the human
costs of this techno-cyber world. I think that there needs to be a world
build where everyone can feel comfortable being themselves instead of
hiding human problems and suffering. Anonomous was brave to share. Could
he/she do that at work? Is there a place there to discuss the demands of
management and how many moves did he/she make in too few years? Probably,
on top of the burden of the depression is the guilt and shame for having
this problem.

When are we going to be able to get real with each other so that human
solutions can be found? Anonymous, thank you for your contribution.

Anonomous please, also.

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