<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>JamesBarney</author><text>&amp;gt;  It means that some people who don&amp;#x27;t have goals, but do have depression, may remedy it by getting goals. But not everyone.&lt;p&gt;It really doesn&amp;#x27;t show this at all, you are misreading the study because the author of the article misrepresents it. Very few correlation studies turn into causation studies.  Even when we have entire subfields dedicated to it.  See amyloid beta.&lt;p&gt;Other possibilities &amp;quot;goals are protective against anxiety and depression but not changeable&amp;quot; &amp;quot;other factors increase goal driven behavior and protect against anxiety and depression&amp;quot; &amp;quot;goal driven behavior is protective but not curative of anxiety and depression&amp;quot; &amp;quot;goal driven behavior increases likelihood that individual gets treated for anxiety or depression&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Any of which would mean that increasing goal driven behavior would not help with anxiety or depression.</text><parent_chain><item><author>gfodor</author><text>I empathize with your frustration, but you&amp;#x27;re letting your personal experience override logic.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;ve made a simple logical error: a study claiming that people who have goals can fend off depression does not imply that those with depression have it because they do not have goals. It means that some people who don&amp;#x27;t have goals, but do have depression, may remedy it by getting goals. But not everyone.&lt;p&gt;If the research above is resulting in psychiatrists becoming lazy, it&amp;#x27;s because they&amp;#x27;re making the same logical error you are making. So in that sense, you should avoid doing so, since the kind of error you are making is the very thing which leads to the behavior you&amp;#x27;ve experienced.&lt;p&gt;The proper response (by you, and psychiatrists) is to conclude that trying to encourage goal formation in those with depression seems wise, and will help some, but many (like yourself) will not benefit. Nor should we invert causation and assume the reason people have depression is due to lack of goals, much like if we determined that eating a specific kind of food helped prevent cancer meant that those who for whatever reason didn&amp;#x27;t have that food in their diet were somehow causing their own cancer by neglecting to eat it.</text></item><item><author>podgaj</author><text>I do not know how many people here have &amp;quot;Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorders&amp;quot; but I am on disability for all three and it runs in my family on my mother&amp;#x27;s side.&lt;p&gt;So what is this article saying? Me and my family just do not have perseverance? That we lack the &amp;quot;will&amp;quot; not to be depressed and anxious? That I just need to &amp;quot;Aspir[e] toward personal and career goals&amp;quot;? HA!&lt;p&gt;No, it&amp;#x27;s not true. You see, they found we all have a genetic disorder (GCH1 Deficiency). After I yelled at my doctors for years to look more deeply they finally found that it was not that I did not have goals, but that I needed a low protein diet and some medications that a psychiatrist could not give me, and now I am doing better. Now I can have goals.&lt;p&gt;So while this article might be true for some people with situational depression, I hate these studies because people always said crap like this to me. I was &amp;quot;lazy&amp;quot; and just needed a hobby, and on and on. They psychiatric association does not recognize, still, that mood disorders can be caused by metabolic issues. When they say I do not have enough serotonin and I ask them why they looked at me like they were in Psych 101. And these articles make psychiatrists lazy, putting all the effort on the patient while they sit back and collect check after check.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Perseverance Toward Life Goals Can Fend Off Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorders</title><url>https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/goals-perseverance</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>hrktb</author><text>To me the article is not far from parent&amp;#x27;s reading. For instance these quotes:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; We wanted to understand what specific coping strategies would be helpful in reducing rates of depression, anxiety and panic attacks.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Our findings suggest that people can improve their mental health by raising or maintaining high levels of tenacity, resilience and optimism,” she said. “Aspiring toward personal and career goals can make people feel like their lives have meaning. On the other hand, disengaging from striving toward those aims or having a cynical attitude can have high mental health costs.”&lt;p&gt;The second quote is really not far from presenting lack of perseverence or negativity as an active choice, putting the onus on the patient.</text><parent_chain><item><author>gfodor</author><text>I empathize with your frustration, but you&amp;#x27;re letting your personal experience override logic.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;ve made a simple logical error: a study claiming that people who have goals can fend off depression does not imply that those with depression have it because they do not have goals. It means that some people who don&amp;#x27;t have goals, but do have depression, may remedy it by getting goals. But not everyone.&lt;p&gt;If the research above is resulting in psychiatrists becoming lazy, it&amp;#x27;s because they&amp;#x27;re making the same logical error you are making. So in that sense, you should avoid doing so, since the kind of error you are making is the very thing which leads to the behavior you&amp;#x27;ve experienced.&lt;p&gt;The proper response (by you, and psychiatrists) is to conclude that trying to encourage goal formation in those with depression seems wise, and will help some, but many (like yourself) will not benefit. Nor should we invert causation and assume the reason people have depression is due to lack of goals, much like if we determined that eating a specific kind of food helped prevent cancer meant that those who for whatever reason didn&amp;#x27;t have that food in their diet were somehow causing their own cancer by neglecting to eat it.</text></item><item><author>podgaj</author><text>I do not know how many people here have &amp;quot;Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorders&amp;quot; but I am on disability for all three and it runs in my family on my mother&amp;#x27;s side.&lt;p&gt;So what is this article saying? Me and my family just do not have perseverance? That we lack the &amp;quot;will&amp;quot; not to be depressed and anxious? That I just need to &amp;quot;Aspir[e] toward personal and career goals&amp;quot;? HA!&lt;p&gt;No, it&amp;#x27;s not true. You see, they found we all have a genetic disorder (GCH1 Deficiency). After I yelled at my doctors for years to look more deeply they finally found that it was not that I did not have goals, but that I needed a low protein diet and some medications that a psychiatrist could not give me, and now I am doing better. Now I can have goals.&lt;p&gt;So while this article might be true for some people with situational depression, I hate these studies because people always said crap like this to me. I was &amp;quot;lazy&amp;quot; and just needed a hobby, and on and on. They psychiatric association does not recognize, still, that mood disorders can be caused by metabolic issues. When they say I do not have enough serotonin and I ask them why they looked at me like they were in Psych 101. And these articles make psychiatrists lazy, putting all the effort on the patient while they sit back and collect check after check.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Perseverance Toward Life Goals Can Fend Off Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorders</title><url>https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/goals-perseverance</url></story>