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Depressed Astronauts Might Get Computerized Solace

Posted by CmdrTaco on Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:01 AM
from the just-email-them-porn dept.
NASA Space
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.
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[+] Technology: Software To Provide Astronaut Counseling 116 comments
Currently, whenever an astronaut needs to talk to someone, a counselor is only a radio call away. Unfortunately, for voyages further out, this contact time starts to increase quite a bit, so researchers have started to look for alternative methods of counseling. I just hope the new counseling software has the Dr. Sbaitso voice. "Instead of asking astronauts to reflect on their feelings, Mark Hegel of Dartmouth Medical School has them create lists of concrete things that are bothering them and brainstorm about practical ways to solve them. At the end of the exercise, users fill out a form used to diagnose depression. Clinical tests of this approach, which has never been tried in a multimedia self-help format, will start in a few months, using subjects recruited from the biomedical and engineering community in Boston."
Submission: Depressed astronauts might get computerized solace by alphadogg (971356)
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  • Companionship (Score:3, Insightful)

    by chill (34294) on Monday October 27 2008, @09:11AM (#25526745) Homepage Journal

    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.

    • Re:Companionship (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Drakkenmensch (1255800) on Monday October 27 2008, @09:14AM (#25526801)
      NASA has a known hardline anti-sex policy... perhaps it's time they start rethinking that approach. Are they expecting to send a group of people on a six month mars mission (with the worst case scenario that they may never return) and think that sex won't happen? It is, after all, one of the greatest joys in life.

      • I think online gaming would be excellent for someone feeling lonely and depressed. I have played my share of online games, have community friends. For the duration that I'm playing, it feels as if I am not in my mom's basement and out there, with friends.

        After all, my mom's policy on sex in the house is similar to that of NASA, albeit in space.

        • I think online gaming would be excellent for someone feeling lonely and depressed.

          The ping times in space are absolutely terrible, due to the finite speed of light and the large distances involved. (For example, the light-delay to Mars varies - due to the differing orbits - between 3.1 and 22.5 minutes! Or so Google claims.)

          They'd be better off having a LAN party.

        • The lag one would have in a spacecraft to Mars would make me even more depressed.

      • Re:Companionship (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Chyeld (713439) <chyeld AT newsguy DOT com> on Monday October 27 2008, @09:42AM (#25527197)

        Yeah, that's just what we need.

        One fuck up in contraception and all the sudden you've got the first interstellar birth with a kid that's doomed to spend the rest of their life on another planet, the mom and/or it doesn't die. You want to think about how hard it is to get baby vomit out of instrumentation?

        Or are we going to try the Chinese route and sterlize everyone going up? I'm sure that'll help the ranks of volunteers swell.

        Or hey! Here's an idea, shove the possibility of romance related tensions into missions where people are already going to be living almost right on top of each other. I'm sure between the stress of the mission, the complete lack of privacy, and love triangles there couldn't possibly be anything that could go wrong there.

        After Lisa Hardwick flipped out over her relationship issues on the ground, you really think NASA has enough of a pulse on their people that they can pick the right group that won't snap up there?

        • The islands of lesbos and sapphos prerrably

          an all woman crew nips the pregancny thing in the bud- and purportedly women are better suited for space travel than men anyway.

          and if it happens, well, think of the ancillary rights!

        • "Or are we going to try the Chinese route and sterlize everyone going up? I'm sure that'll help the ranks of volunteers swell."

          Obviously I can't speak for anyone else, but I think that's a great idea and wouldn't affect my willingness to volunteer at all. Choice A) Go into space vs. Choice B) stay here and be a slave to a family for the rest of my life ... hmmmm ... tough one!

          There's lots of people who give up family voluntarily for careers and I also think that for a lot of people the dream of space explor

        • Great! Hopefully he will get rescued and raised by Martians and return to Earth to start a sex cult.

    • Simpler solution, on board Real Dolls.

      You don't want some angry pimpnaut flying up to kick your ass do you?

  • EMACS- what problem can't it solve? (Score:4, Funny)

    by tunabomber (259585) on Monday October 27 2008, @09:15AM (#25526807) Homepage

    M-x doctor [emacswiki.org] always did it for me.

  • do they have access to the internet up there? If they don't, that might partly explain their boredom/depression issues...
  • 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.

  • I swear I read this as "Depressurized Astronauts" (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 27 2008, @09:27AM (#25526971)

    and I thought, "Geez, that's nice of em, but..."

  • Computerized Solace? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 27 2008, @09:30AM (#25527037)

    This really just sounds like a fancy name for porn.

  • Right.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by (arg!)Styopa (232550) on Monday October 27 2008, @09:38AM (#25527131) Journal

    " 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.'""

    On Earth, we just call it porn.

    • On Earth, we just call it porn.

      Yeah, but in space you'd have to design an entire device for collection so you don't have spooge floating around the space station. That'd likely foul up some equipment somewhere.

      I'm pretty sure the logistics of a micro-gravity wank in an enclosed space with sensitive equipment is far more challenging than simply giving the astronauts porn. :-P

      Cheers

  • Naw, drugs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by smchris (464899) on Monday October 27 2008, @09:46AM (#25527251)

    Worked in Outland. Just remember to put on your helmet.

    Or wall-projected golf and a nightclub.

    Despite the "world's coolest job" posts, I'm more on the Philip K. Dick side that thinks months in a can will truly suck and they'll have ad agencies lying through their teeth to get people up to the mining colonies.

  • When it starts singing "Daisy" then it is time to abandon ship.

  • 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"

    • Let's say at age 35 you go on the greatest adventure ever, and the rest of your life is spent talking about it.. You start to realize that your life is nothing but downhill from there.... How do you top going to space and walking on the moon??!?!? Not only that, but you have to relive it every day for the rest of your life. And you share that experience with people who will never be there, only a handful of people on the planet know what you're talking about.

      That would depress me to some extent.
  • I see...And how does Depressed Astronauts Getting Computerized Solace make you feel?
  • This is first time I've seen the dupe post actually link to the original.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Spazztastic (814296)
      And furthermore depression is evident when working in close proximity with others. There's no escape, you can't go and do anything really private. 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?

      Best job in the world? I disagree. I'd rather win the lottery and do nothing for the rest of my years then be an astronaut. That is if I could choose :)

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by jonas_sten (1330435)
        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.

        • Re:Depressed astronauts? (Score:5, Interesting)

          by MindKata (957167) on Monday October 27 2008, @09:39AM (#25527155) Journal
          "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."

          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! :) ... 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. :)

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by khallow (566160)

            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.

            My take is that would be a wrong interpretation. The job isn't a cage in this example, it is merely perceived as one.

        • 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.

          That's absolutely true - but I think an extra problem for these guys is being stuck somewhere without the usual things we can try to make depressed people feel better (like go on holiday, buy a dog, get some exercise, change your life, etc), and the danger of somebody mission critical being out of action for a prolonged period.

          So while it's an old problem - I think it has new complications. I wonder if there's any historical documentation of depression on long sea voyages and what was done about it.

      • Re:Depressed astronauts? (Score:5, Funny)

        by couchslug (175151) on Monday October 27 2008, @10:18AM (#25527695)

        "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.

    • Re:Depressed astronauts? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 27 2008, @09:13AM (#25526773)

      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.

    • Re:Depressed astronauts? (Score:5, Funny)

      by dattaway (3088) * on Monday October 27 2008, @09:13AM (#25526777) Homepage

      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.

      • Submariners might be better (Score:5, Insightful)

        by TheLink (130905) on Monday October 27 2008, @10:05AM (#25527519) Journal
        "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.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Chyeld (713439)

      Dear me, what a quaint and outdated view of what depression is and how it works. Are you one of those people who assume that addiction is merely a matter of will power? Or are you and Tom Cruise shacking up together to discuss the fallacies of modern psychology.

      Thank you for reminding us how people treated the ill back in the 1800's.

      • 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.

        • Did you have troble with the meaning of the word 'merely' in my post or were you in such a hurry tripping over yourself to get in a word that you missed it?

          And find me someone who's kicked their heroin addiction purely on the basis of will power. Someone who won't feel the craving the rest of their life, not just someone who's learned to fight it.

      • Re:Depressed astronauts? (Score:5, Informative)

        by frieko (855745) on Monday October 27 2008, @10:02AM (#25527477)
        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.
        • This seems like a good time to bring up the movie Sunshine, not because it was a rip-roaringly accurate psychological exploration (premise: 50 years from now a group of astronauts set out to drop a bomb to restart the sun) but because they spent a lot of time asking NASA about their ideas for prolonged space travel. Apparently they want large personnel spaces on board, because the effect on sanity hugely outweighs the excess mass (materials used goes up with about root two over three of the empty space adde

        • I don't see anything outdated about what they're doing.

          Nor do I, which is why my post was a response to someone poo pahing the idea [slashdot.org] and not to the idea itself.

    • Re:Depressed astronauts? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Vellmont (569020) on Monday October 27 2008, @09:34AM (#25527089)


      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.

    • One thing that I know causes depression, or attributes to depression anyway, is just plain old exercise.

      If you are a very active person, out in the sun running or doing whatever else, and then you have inactivity forced upon you, injury, too much work, being stuck in a tiny shuttle hundreds of thousands of miles from earth, or even locked in a cage while your master goes to work, the lack of endorphins can trigger depression. I know depression in general is more complex than that, but once I noticed this pa

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