Ask HN: How do you work on your mental health?
I&#x27;ve struggled with depression and anxiety issues for most of my life. Two things have made a huge difference for me:<p>Actually identifying with my body and taking care of me (it). That&#x27;s the diet, sleep, exercise combo driven by a positive body image I identify with. The <i>by far</i> worst years of my life (so far) were when I clung to some kind of cyberpunky mind-body dualism and treated my body as a bag of meat whose only purpose is to supply oxygen to the brain in front of a computer.<p>Self-acceptance. For some people this is a given, seemingly achieved without any conscious thought at all, and I&#x27;m quite envious of those people. For others this takes decades or they repress until the bitter end (suicide in one way or another).<p>Therapy might be helpful and seems to be the default advice for questions like these. I&#x27;ve been sent to a handful of psychologist appointments due to anger issues in elementary school (don&#x27;t recall any of that). I tried to get mental health help around a decade ago, only got some pills that made me feel even worse (adverse effects: suicide) and couldn&#x27;t get a follow-up appointment. Real therapy is hard to access because the health system intentionally keeps capacity low (it&#x27;s expensive). Basically only for people unable to work any more due to mental health issues, not for people that have quality-of-life issues. The US seems to be on the other end of the spectrum from my country in this regard.