New mental health program for people working on AI safety!

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲! 🥳

It’s not therapy. It’s what I wish therapy was, but totally isn’t.

It’s a short program that lasts 4-12 weeks, where you systematically try 5-30 techniques until you find something that fixes an emotional problem you're struggling with (e.g. anxiety, impostor syndrome, low mood, etc).

Here’s how it works:

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥: 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧
​

1. 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝. Discuss the problem and generate at least 5 hypotheses for what’s causing the problem.
2. 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. In this process, we’ll generate and look at least 30 possible ways to fix the problem. This will come from a wide swathe of possible solutions, such as CBT, internal family systems, problem-solving, changing your environment, meditation, diet, exercise, supplements, loving-kindness, gratitude, stoicism, improving sleep hygiene, checking for nutritional deficiencies, bibliotherapy, meds (not prescribed by me, but I might recommend you talk to a doctor), etc.
3. 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. We’ll prioritize the possible solutions by their probability of working, how costly they are to try, whether they can be tried with things in parallel, etc.
4. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟓-𝟏𝟎 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝟏-𝟑 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. This will include things like setting up accountability systems, commitment devices, time blocking, etc. It will all be customized to what works best for you and for the particular techniques.
   
   

𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭: 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞

You’ll spend the next 1-3 weeks actually putting the most promising techniques into practice.

You’ll keep track of your symptoms. If your symptoms go away, then we’ll analyze what happened. Sometimes it’ll be obvious what’s helping, and you can just keep doing that thing. If not, then we can start remove the techniques one at a time. If the symptoms come back, then we just bring back the technique that we removed, and we know what was doing the magic.

Experimenting in parallel means you get to feel better sooner and continue to feel good while we figure out what the problem was. 

If your symptoms don’t go away after 1-2 weeks, then we’ll prioritize the next 5-10 techniques to try.

This process will happen up to 3 times.

By the end, you’ll have either resolved your issues, or you’ll at least have tried ~30 techniques to fix the problem. Even if you haven’t, you’ll probably have found at least a few more techniques to add to your repertoire of things that you enjoy.

Apply here

𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲?

It’s not therapy. It’s what I wish therapy was, but totally isn’t. 

𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡:

Stress
Impostor syndrome
Burnout
Anxiety
Hopelessness
Feeling overwhelmed 
Depression (mild or moderate. Not severe)
Self-esteem issues
Motivation issues
Numbness
Sadness
Work life balance
Guilt
Sleep issues
Loneliness
Existential angst
Perfectionism
Relationship problems

𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 

Suicidality
Bipolar
ADHD
Gender dysphoria
Anger management
Substance use disorders
Autism related emotional issues
Cluster B personality disorders (e.g. BPD, APD, HPD, NPD)
Anything where you're experiencing psychosis
Anything where you're experiencing paranoia or delusions

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭?

It's free if you:

• Work in AI safety
• Are currently unemployed, but usually work in AI safety
• Earn to give and give >$50,000 a year to AI safety

I'm offering this service for free because mental health is one of the main blockers to people having an impact in AI safety. 

I think x-risks and s-risks from AI are the most important things to work on. And I'm good at emotional problem-solving. So if I help people working on AI safety be happier, then I'm helping make sure AI doesn't kill everybody. 

Timelines are too short to work with people who are not working in AI safety, but since I'm a rationalist and everybody has their price, I would do it for a non-AI safety person if they donated $10,000 or more to Nonlinear or an AI safety org working on pausing or slowing down AI development. 

Apply here

I have very limited time, so can only take on a small fraction of clients who apply. If you do not get in, I recommend checking out this vetted list of therapists or this compilation of mental health techniques for dealing with AI safety. 

• Mentnav
• Lesswrong

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