Story: The Bug He Couldn't Name - A 15-Year Fight Inside One Developer's Mind

What It Covers

Burke Holland shares his fifteen-year battle with undiagnosed OCD and anxiety, from a traumatic acid trip through career success at Microsoft's VS Code team.

Key Questions Answered

• •Self-diagnosis necessity: Use structured workbooks like "The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" to systematically eliminate conditions and identify specific mental health issues when professionals fail to help.
• •OCD recognition: Rumination and sleep anxiety often indicate obsessive-compulsive disorder rather than depression - requires specific medications like Lexapro plus benzodiazepines for effective treatment.
• •Mindfulness noting technique: Acknowledge anxious thoughts by naming them ("that's worry" or "that's anxiety") without fighting them, then move on - this breaks rumination cycles effectively.
• •Reality check for anxiety: If you question whether you're losing your mind, you're not - people with actual psychotic breaks lack this self-awareness and don't ask the question.