Why Founders Taboo Started? (#Taboo 5)

Founders Taboo started with an unanswered email from August 2020. Today we have an incredible team and amazing founders helping solve this pain point.

Remember that sometime its the lack of self-care, not market-fit that kill startups.?

Note: I used an Alias for the two professors name in this e-mail. I am incredibly greatfull to the entire staff at Medizinische Universit?t Innsbruck .

Their speed, dedication and compassion, not just to heal someone physically but also mentally is something I will never forget.

Thank to all these Dr, Nurses but even the people at the front desk taking care of people so genuinly. I will make sure one day I can thank you back.

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From:?Janos Barberis?<[email protected]>

Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2020 at 11:44

Subject: Status Check-up: Barberis [edited out] / Psychology

To: <[email protected]>

Dear Professor Koler,?

First of all, I wanted to thank you for your time on Tuesday morning. I was happy to be able to share with you how I felt.

The psychiatrist that I saw provided me with medication and confirmed the need for me to be accepted as a patient. He mentioned that I could do this abroad, however my desire would be to do this in Innsbruck.

Here is why:?

I am really concerned about two different things:

1. The risk for my sarcoidosis to come back?
2. My rapidly degrading mental health.?

As I am writing you these lines, I am crying once again. As of now, my biggest concern is my mental health. I wish to actively seek help to prevent any personal and health risk.

I will do all the necessary investment for me to work with a medical team to improve my condition, even if this means for me to come back to Austria.

I intuitively know that, if I do not do this, things will get worse.?

At the same time, I am very aware that my mental health condition can be both a precondition and a consequence of me being an entrepreneur and building startups.

There is very limited academic research on this. The most famous research dates from 2015 by Michael A. Freeman, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, U.C. San Francisco School of Medicine. He wrote a seminal paper on this topic: Are Entrepreneurs Touched With Fire? (research linked)?

This is why I wanted your advice:

• Do you believe the 2 colleagues you have in mind would understand the link between having a mental health condition and the professional environment of a patient?
• Furthermore, would they have an interest in establishing it?

I am asking this because, whilst my mental health is very difficult to handle at the moment, it is also responsible for what I have achieved so far.?

I know it is a special request, but this is specifically why I believe a University Hospital is a more suited place for me to be admitted. Especially also because of how my [edited out] could perhaps have been linked to what and how I worked when I was in Hong Kong. This is what scares me the most.

For the last 3 weeks, mentally, I am feeling exactly the same as I did when in Hong Kong, just before being diagnosed with my [edited out] in 2018.

This is also what is so hard to accept, because I feel that I am losing all the health progress I have made in the last 2 years.

I know that the topic of "Entrepreneur and Mental Health" is a ‘taboo’. However, it is not a taboo for me anymore.

Beyond my individual case, if your colleague, or someone you know, thinks there is an opportunity to do a clinical study and publish research, as an expansion on Prof Freeman's work (that dates from 2015 and only had a sample size of 60), I can make all my network available. I know hundreds of founders and have published world leading academic research.?

I understand this is not a usual request, but I know that thousands of people are suffering, the same way I am. COVID 19 will make this worse, as founders will struggle even more.

Therefore, if my personal reconstruction can help or prevent others from suffering the same way, I would do everything to work with any medical staff who are interested in this topic.

As for my physical health and [edited out], I will try to rebuild myself physically to exclude any environmental factors as potential risk factors that could contribute to anything reappearing again. I am also reducing any personal commitment that could otherwise pressure me more.

Again, a big thanks to Professor Koler. Hopefully what I write makes some sense. Irrespective of outcome, I will always be thankful for your immediate reaction to send me to the Psychiatry department on Tuesday, as well as the constant care you and Dr Banski have provided me since my condition started.?

I am just trying to find help as it's getting harder and harder for me to handle alone.

Take care and have an excellent weekend.?

PS: I had to return to the UK today, however if I need to come back to Austria, the soonest I can would be the 14th of September, as I now face a 2 week quarantine in the UK upon my return. If this has to be a permanent return, I will also make it happen.?

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