Podcasts Technology Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats Mental Health and Dev ft Dr. Courtney Tolinski - Depression, Anxiety, Imposter Syndrome, Focus, Motivation, Burnout

Mental Health and Dev ft Dr. Courtney Tolinski - Depression, Anxiety, Imposter Syndrome, Focus, Motivation, Burnout

Published: April 1, 2020, 1 p.m.

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk with Dr. Courtney Tolinski about mental health and web development.

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Show Notes

3:20 - Depression

  • Honestly just explaining depression would be great. Too many times I\u2019ve heard \u201cbut you don\u2019t look sad\u201d
  • As someone who struggles with depression, what are some things I can do to rekindle and things I enjoy like developing and hobbies? This would greatly benefit me for learning more dev related things outside of doing it for work.
  • My depression is due to some other cause in personal life - two years into it.
  • Coding has bought me little life back as this is the only thing I have to do.
  • What can we do from an outsider's view to someone who might have depression?

12:23 - Anxiety

  • Imposter Syndrome x 1000
  • How to deal with increased anxiety during these times?
  • How to avoid anxiety and feel useless when working products that you don\u2019t appeal to you?
  • Wanted to ask the Dr about why do I feel that I have to work on 1000 projects that seem to never finish? \U0001f623This is inducing a lot of anxiety sometimes.
  • I am on depression medication. Sometimes, I feel scared that I am so slow and don\u2019t feel accomplished enough like people working at FANG, etc, being a SE.
  • How to deal with the anxiety caused by today\u2019s events around the world and the need to isolate yourself from society even though we crave human interaction?

29:12 - Focus and job performance

  • How to keep motivation and focus? I find myself enjoying work but having a hard time focusing on it. All the \u201cdistraction-free\u201d apps don\u2019t work because I can turn them off and I feel they literally have no power over me.
  • Hardcore mode
  • Pomodoro technique

35:10 - Motivation and remote work

  • Bore-out
  • Burnout
  • How do you deal with loss of focus and happiness in web development (especially on remote jobs)?
  • Working for yourself at home, you don\u2019t get a chance to bounce ideas and encouragement from others in an office. What\u2019re some good ways to compensate for that to ensure you maintain a positive mindset?
  • Work on new things
  • Find ways to try new things

40:38 - Stress

  • Correctly identifying source of (negative?) stress. Not lashing out when under stress.
  • How to avoid eating to cope with stress?
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