If you’re fortunate enough to be in Tasmania for Linux.conf.au 2017 then you will be pleased to hear that we’re holding another BlueHackers BoF (Birds of a Feather) session on Monday evening, straight after the Linux Australia AGM.
The room is yet to be confirmed, but all details will be updated on the conference wiki at the following address: https://linux.conf.au/wiki/conference/birds_of_a_feather_sessions/bluehackers/
We hope to see you there!
https://theconversation.com/explainer-whats-the-link-between-insomnia-and-mental-illness-49597
The relationship between insomnia and mental illness is bidirectional: about 50% of adults with insomnia have a mental health problem; up to 90% of adults with depression have sleep problems.
Participate in a survey about how mental health is viewed within the tech/IT workplace, and the prevalence of certain mental health disorders within the tech industry.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-03-bad-decision-anxiety-blame.html
Most people experience anxiety in their lives. For some, it is just a bad, passing feeling, but, for many, anxiety rules their day-to-day lives, even to the point of taking over the decisions they make.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a mechanism for how anxiety may disrupt decision making. In a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, they report that anxiety disengages a region of the brain called the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is critical for flexible decision making. By monitoring the activity of neurons in the PFC while anxious rats had to make decisions about how to get a reward, the scientists made two observations. First, anxiety leads to bad decisions when there are conflicting distractors present. Second, bad decisions under anxiety involve numbing of PFC neurons.
Hello world!
On this year’s World Mental Health Day, some info from Lifeline and Mental Health Australia:
Did you know 70% of people with mental health issues don’t seek help? […] As a community we can encourage others to take care of their mental health by breaking down the barriers that stop people seeking help when they need it.
Make your mental health promise and share it today. Encourage your friends and family to do the same and share their promises here or on social media using the hashtag #WMHD2015.
Here are some great tips and promises to make to yourself this 10/10 (October 10th):
Interesting find:
[…] interactive flow chart for people who struggle with self care, executive dysfunction, and/or who have trouble reading internal signals. It’s designed to take as much of the weight off of you as possible, so each decision is very easy and doesn’t require much judgement.
Some readers may find it of use. I think it’d be useful to have the source code for this available so that a broad group of people can tweak and improve it, or make personalised versions.
This is something that I feel quite strongly about. Both of my parents have tried to commit suicide when I was young, at different times and stages of my life. The first one was when I was about 11 and I don’t remember too much about it, there was a lot of pain flying around the family at that time and I was probably shielded from the details. The second parent (by then long divorced from the other parent) tried when I was 21 and away at uni in a different city. That one I remember vividly, even though I wasn’t there.
My reactions to the second were still those of a child. Perhaps when it’s a parent, one’s reactions are always those of a child. For me the most devastating thought was a purely selfish one (as fits a child) “Do I mean that little to them? Am I not even worth staying alive for?” The pain of that thought was overwhelming.
At the time I was young, saw myself as an optimist and simply could not relate in any way to the amount of pain that would bring one to such an action. I was angry. I described suicide as “the most selfish act anyone could do”.
Now decades of time and a world of life experience later, I have stared into that dark abyss myself and I know the pain that leads one there. I know how all-encompassing the pain and darkness seems and how the needs of others fade. An end to the pain is all one wants and it seems inconceivable that one’s life has any relevance any more. In fact, one can even argue to oneself that others would be better off without one there.
In those dark times it was the certain knowledge of that pain I had experienced myself as one (almost) left behind that kept me from that road more firmly than anything else. By then I was a parent myself and there was just no way I was going to send my children the message that they meant so little to me they were not even worth living for. Although living seemed to be the hardest thing I could do, there was no hesitation that they were worth it.
And beyond the children there are always others. Others who will be affected by a suicide, no matter of whom. None of us is truly alone. We all have parents, we may have siblings. Even if all our family is gone and we feel we have no friends, it is likely that there are people who care. The person at the corner shop from whom you buy milk on weekends and who may think “should I have known? Is there anything I could have done?” Even if you can argue that there is no-one that would notice or care, let’s be frank, someone is going to have to deal with the body and winding up of financial and other affairs. And I’m sure it’s really going to make their day!
Whenever I hear about trains being delayed because of incidents on the track I am immediately concerned for those on the train, not least of all the drivers. What have they ever done to that person to deserve the images that will now be impossible to erase from memory, which will haunt their nights and dark moments and which may lead them to require therapy.
There are many people, working for many organisations, some sitting at telephones in shifts 24 hrs a day, who want more than anything else to help people wrestling with these dark issues. They care. They really do. About everyone.
Help is always available. So let’s all acknowledge that suicide Always causes pain to others.
Staring at screens right before sleep turns out to be a lot worse than previously thought. Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, lays out all of the negative effects that bedtime screen viewing can have on the brain and body.
And of course, that’s aside from the effects of the contents! If you read any news, you may find yourself all riled up and annoyed at something you can do absolutely nothing about (or at least not at that moment). If you check your work email, just as problematic.
http://wilwheaton.net/2015/08/tears-in-rain/
I walked out of the loading dock, through a cloud of rotting garbage, and into the alleyway behind the theater. A curtain of rain fell between me and my destination, a little over a block away.
“Do you want to wait here, while I get you an umbrella?” Liz, the producer from Wizards of the Coast, asked me.
“No,” I said, stepping into the rain, extending my arms outward and turning my palms and face to the sky, “it’s been so long since I felt rain fall on my body, I’m not going to let this opportunity pass me by.”
I walked down the sidewalk, surrounded by other PAX attendees. Some were not bothered by the rain, while others held up programs and newspapers and other things to keep it away. A man walked his dog next to me. The dog was unperturbed by the weather. We got to the corner and waited for the light to change. The rain intensified and it was glorious.
“Are you sure this is okay?” She said.
“Oh yes, this is so much more than okay,” I answered, “this is perfect.”
[…]
I’ve been feeling pretty much the opposite of awesome for several weeks, now, and actually getting to sit down, face to face, in a semi-quiet few moments with real people who wanted to be there with me was … restorative, I guess is the best word. One player told me, “Thank you for everything you do. From Tabletop to Titansgrave — which is the best thing I’ve ever seen — to talking so openly about anxiety and depression.”
[…]
Read Wil’s entire post at http://wilwheaton.net/2015/08/tears-in-rain/
