Scott Alexander offers a comprehensive guide for treating depression, covering professional help, lifestyle changes, and supplements, emphasizing the importance of persistence in finding effective treatments. Longer summary

Scott Alexander provides a comprehensive guide for people with depression, covering diagnosis, treatment options, and self-help strategies. He starts by explaining how to determine if one has depression and strongly recommends seeing a doctor or psychiatrist. He then outlines a step-by-step treatment algorithm for doctors to follow, including various medications and therapies. The post also covers lifestyle interventions, supplements, and other strategies for those who can't or won't see a doctor. Scott emphasizes the importance of persistence in finding effective treatments and reassures readers that depression is often treatable with sufficient effort. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander defends psychiatric treatment for suicide attempts, arguing that most are impulsive decisions by people with treatable mental disorders rather than rational choices. Longer summary

Scott Alexander argues in favor of psychiatric treatment for attempted suicide, emphasizing that while there may be rare cases of rational suicide, most attempts are impulsive decisions made by people with mental disorders. He presents evidence that the majority of suicide attempters later regret their actions and that psychiatric treatment can significantly reduce suicide rates. The post discusses statistics on mental disorders among suicide attempters, the temporary nature of many suicidal crises, and the effectiveness of psychiatric interventions. Scott also addresses common misconceptions about psychiatric hospitalization and argues that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for most patients. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander reviews a study using Implicit Association Tests to measure suicidal intent, expressing both excitement for the research direction and skepticism about its methodology and practical applications. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses a 2007 study by Nock & Banaji that uses Implicit Association Tests (IATs) to measure suicidal intent in psychiatric patients. The study matches categories of self/other with images of self-harm/non-self-harm, claiming to distinguish between healthy controls, those with past suicidal ideation, and past suicide attempters. While Scott is excited about research in this area, he expresses skepticism about the study's methodology, particularly its use of self-harm images instead of actual suicide imagery. He also questions the study's ability to predict future suicide attempts and its potential usefulness in real-world scenarios. Despite his reservations, Scott sees this as a positive step towards using IATs for practical applications beyond social justice projects. Shorter summary