Entrepreneur Depression

My name is Steve Kantor.  I am an entrepreneur.  I previously started and sold a software company called Gnossos Software.

In 2006, I started Lifebushido which has grown to about 100 part-time staff in USA and overseas.  I am a very positive optimistic person and had not had any significant mental health issues until 2015.

In 2015, I made a decision to leave my marriage and I also had a variety of business challenges which created anxiety and worry.  Over a period of a few months from Apr-May 2015, I fell into my first depression.  I kept thinking about 5-10 personal and business topics which had potentially very bad future outcomes and my mind started to focus on the worst case scenarios.  In the same way I used to always think positive future, my mind turned on me and began to think negative future.  At one point, I had my first 'bad thought' which took me by surprise.  At that point, even though I tended to be anti-meds, I realized I needed to get help and see a psychiatrist and likely get meds.  I started with one drug after seeing a psychiatrist and it had some positive effects but also made my brain foggy and so tired that for the first month, I could barely do 2-3 hours of real work per day.  Luckily, after one month, the doctor made a change and added a second med and within 1-2 days the meds kicked in positively and I started to feel myself again.  I felt great again.   

During this period, I decided to be open with all of my 100 staff about my situation because I was unable to lead the company fully during the time of depression.  My staff was very understanding and supportive and many shared with me their own depression or mental illness stories.  On a typical entrepreneurial impulse, I registered www.entrepreneurdepression.com with the goal to create some website, resources, or social business to help other entrepreneurs with depression.  I knew that most were not going to be as open as I was to discussing with family, friends, and staff.  Over the next few months, I had more than 10 deep discussions with various entrepreneurs with current or previous depression and started to pull together resources for this website.

This is a work in progress.  Please contact us at help@entrepreneurdepression.com if you are aware of other websites or resources for entrepreneurs with depression or if you need help connecting to fellow entrepreneurs who have gone through depression and are now doing well.
 
 -Steve

Steve Kantor
President
Lifebushido
www.lifebushido.com