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)
2. <me>
3. Fernando Perales Software Engineer @ Crowd Interactive MagmaLabs FLOSS Advocate /(.*) metal and lover/ Passionate about web development and lean startup
4. Living in Colima
6. </me>
7. <disclaimers>
9. </disclaimers>
11. Aaron Swartz
12. aaronsw.com/web log/verysick 27/11/2007
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.”
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.”
16. “Programmers have feelings too”
17. -me: a couple of days ago
18. Doctors believe that depression is caused by chemical changes in the brain.
19. Stressful Event Medical Conditions Sleeping Problems Medication Abuse of Drugs or Alcohol Hormone Level Changes Hereditary
21. MRI
22. Magnetic resonance imaging
23. <about_me>
24. </about_me>
25. Where to ask for help?
26. Local associations
27. Talk Openly
28. Inform yourself
30. Get help
31. Mhprompt.org
32. 7cupsoftea.com/
33. Questions?
34. Thanks! hi@ferperales.net