Refactoring depression (Refactoring depression)

Is time to talk about mental health in IT

Excessive working hours, isolation, stress, irregular sleeping patterns and impostor syndrome, among other situations, are part of the price we pay for working on Information Technologies, but could be symptoms of something more dangerous is going on and we haven't realized.

This talk aims to make people aware of how vulnerable people working on the area is and how we should give more importance to our mental health.

Talk given at Free Software Festival 2015 on October, 30th

www.fsl.mx

Transcript

1. Refactoring depression
   (how mental diseases are affecting
   our community)
   

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2. 
   

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3. Fernando
   Perales
   Software Engineer @
   Crowd Interactive MagmaLabs
   FLOSS Advocate
   /(.*) metal and lover/
   
   Passionate about web
   development and lean startup
   

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4. Living in Colima
   

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7. 
   

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11. Aaron Swartz
    

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12. aaronsw.com/web
    log/verysick
    27/11/2007
    

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13. “...Depressed mood: Surely there have been times
    when you’ve been sad. Perhaps a loved one has
    abandoned you or a plan has gone horribly awry.
    Your face falls. Perhaps you cry. You feel
    worthless. You wonder whether it’s worth going
    on. Everything you think about seems bleak — the
    things you’ve done, the things you hope to do, the
    people around you. You want to lie in bed and
    keep the lights off. Depressed mood is like that,
    only it doesn’t come for any reason and it doesn’t
    go for any either. Go outside and get some fresh
    air or cuddle with a loved one and you don’t feel
    any better, only more upset at being unable to
    feel the joy that everyone else seems to feel.
    Everything gets colored by the sadness.”
    

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14. “At best, you tell yourself that your thinking is
    irrational, that it is simply a mood disorder, that
    you should get on with your life. But sometimes
    that is worse. You feel as if streaks of pain are
    running through your head, you thrash your
    body, you search for some escape but find none.
    And this is one of the more moderate forms. As
    George Scialabba put it, “acute depression does
    not feel like falling ill, it feels like being
    tortured … the pain is not localized; it runs
    along every nerve, an unconsuming fire. … Even
    though one knows better, one cannot believe
    that it will ever end, or that anyone else has
    ever felt anything like it.”
    

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16. “Programmers
    have feelings
    too”
    

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17. -me: a couple of days ago
    

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18. Doctors believe that
    depression is caused by
    chemical changes in the
    brain.
    

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19. Stressful Event
    Medical Conditions
    Sleeping Problems
    Medication
    Abuse of Drugs or Alcohol
    Hormone Level Changes
    Hereditary
    

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21. MRI
    

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22. Magnetic
    resonance
    imaging
    

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23. 
    

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24. 
    

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25. Where to ask for
    help?
    

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26. Local
    associations
    

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27. Talk
    Openly
    

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28. Inform
    yourself
    

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30. Get
    help
    

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31. Mhprompt.org
    

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32. 7cupsoftea.com/
    

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33. Questions?
    

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34. Thanks!
    hi@ferperales.net
    

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