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Depressed Astronauts Might Get Computerized Solace
alphadogg writes "Clinical tests on a four-year, $1.74 million project for NASA, called the Virtual Space Station, are expected to begin in the Boston area by next month. The effort is designed to address the onset of depression in astronauts while they are in outer space. In the project, sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, a recorded video therapist guides astronauts through a widely used depression therapy called 'problem-solving treatment.'" Here's a related story from a few weeks ago. Those astronauts got it rough.
How about just flying up the occasional prostitute for "group therapy"? They could do what they do with astronauts and rotate which country she is from, etc.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Depression is not always about something. That's the thing. Sometimes people just feel like total shit without there being a clear reason for it.
People who have the best job in the world (and out of this world) really don't get much sympathy from me when they complain about the job.
Never underestimate several people in a small capsule farting over many days. Sometimes depression will make your eyes burn.
M-x doctor always did it for me.
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After a while you would become depressed because your money is the wrong color. man have simply not evolved to be happy. depression is clearly not a new fad. People hated their jobs in the 12th century and still do.
Write the following on sticky notes and place them around the ship:
CHEER UP, EMO ASTRONAUTS!
You have the coolest freaking job in the whole damn stupid world.
Untold thousands of nerds would do anything to get where you are, but the closest they'll ever get are sewing together their own Star Trek uniforms.
Get over your damn selves, and get back to being awesome.
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and I thought, "Geez, that's nice of em, but..."
This really just sounds like a fancy name for porn.
Wake up whenever you want. Get fed at regular intervals. The only job requirement is that you show a modicum of glee when your owner is around. What does a dog get depressed about?
Dogs are not people (or specifically, not you) and they don't share what you out of life. The breeds we have were bred for certain jobs like herding, hunting, or killing vermin. In general they weren't bred to be companion dogs. They desperately want to do this job and without that fulfillment, they have problems. I don't know if that specifically can cause depression, but I could see it.
I guess my point is, without actually having BEEN a dog or an Astronaut on a space station, it's difficult to know exactly what they go through. So I wouldn't be so quick to judge.
AccountKiller
"After a while you would become depressed because your money is the wrong color. man have simply not evolved to be happy. depression is clearly not a new fad. People hated their jobs in the 12th century and still do."
:) ... while its still a cage, the new surroundings may make it feel like a better cage.... that is, until you can find a way to live without the need of a cage... I'm still looking for the answer to that one, like most people. :)
An alternative interpretation would be, a job acts like a cage (retricting what you can think and do) and a caged animal feels depression, at lack of freedom. So its not that people are or are not evolved to be happy, its that people are not evolved to be caged in a job.
Sounds like its time you found a new cage!
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
I remember hearing a story about several of the Apollo astronauts experiencing problems with depression. I guess after walking on the freaking moon, making gravy train money on the lecture circuit doesn't give you the same sense of accomplishment.
I guess in this case Willy Wonka was full of shit. Getting everything you want in life doesn't always lead to "happily ever after"
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Addiction is a matter of willpower. Find me an addict who has kicked and stayed clean for a length of time who doesn't directly reference their own willingness to quit as a determinant.
That doesn't mean it's only about willpower, but your claim simply has no merit.
"The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
As a depression patient I can say long-term space travel includes basically all the known triggers to depression - stress, isolation, sleep deprivation, lack of sunlight. And there's problem-solving steps you can do to migigate each of these.
The standard treatment for depression is medicine AND therapy. There might be room on board for a bottle of Lexapro but not for Counselor Troi. So that's the aspect they're working on. I don't see anything outdated about what they're doing.
"Never underestimate several people in a small capsule farting over many days"
That's the thing, perhaps NASA is selecting from the wrong pool of people to put into small capsules for long periods of time.
Instead of picking from the usual air force sort of people maybe they should be picking candidates from nuclear submarines.
Might be easier to find a submariner that can be trained to fly than to find an air force sort of person willing to put up with being stuck in a claustrophobic tube for months with no way out except "Mission over" or death.
"Hell, how are you supposed to do something as simple as crank out out when you have to worry about catching it all or it may jam an instrument panel?"
Stealth fapping tech is inevitable. A cross between a Fleshlight and a milking machine should do the job.
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