Depressed? Insane? Options

[Wurlon]

Ever feel so depressed and insane that you sometimes question whether you are dreaming or the swirling world around you is a grim reality? I really can't tell anymore... every passing day brings more proof of my insanity and I keep feeling a rage.. to do something. I worry whether its for good or bad.

Help? No one seems to believe me or understand me anymore. Maybe I should just take a whole bottle of Advil and get my wretched existence over with. God turns his cheek to me.

[Ibis]

Wow Doomed, you read my mind on the first suggestion that I considered .. a girlfriend .. but then I thought maybe that would be moving too fast. A girl whose interested in you would be ideal because it would certainly "lift your spirits", put spring in your step, etc. and also girls are more sensitive to problems and actually like to listen to others which I think sometimes guys just gloss over between themselves. You guys have to act so rugged, I don't know how you do it sometimes ... I guess it's the training from an early age.

I don't know why you think that video games aren't good between friends, but I wouldn't know about between friends ... I play with my husband and I know it draws us closer. But it might be different for friends. I mean really, sometimes when we are out in the wilderness of Guild Wars or Shadowbane together I really feel like we are in real life backing each other up in battle ... like Conan and Valeria .. I love it. But video games are not as good as face-to-face relations in real life.

Wurlon, how about this? You and Dave both like Metallica, right? So why don't you suggest sometime that the two of you go to the Mall or music store and buy or check out Metallica albums. Especially if you've got enough money to buy one that you don't have, you could ask him to come along to offer his advice in choosing. Or just to browse if you don't want to buy. And then while you're there, suggest looking around at some of the other stores, check out the chicks, grab a bite to eat ... just go and have a good time. Get to know each other better. It'd be a good way to see what other common interests you have and get seen by the girls as eligible guys on the hoof. Or however you guys say that now.

Concerning a 3 year depression, that's a long time for steady depression. If you started keeping a journal or mood diary it might help you ... I'm glad you said that it has been slowly getting better. That's a good sign.

I once gave advice at a forum to a guy who really wanted to meet girls and didn't know how to exude confidence at dances ... I told him to take dancing lessons. Not only to learn to dance, but to learn to socialize at the classes where it didn't matter so much before going to the dances with his peers. He did sign up for the dancing lessons but then he got so nervous, he couldn't go through with them. But later, his sister taught him to dance and that really did help him and broke the ice and he was launched into meeting people and making friends.
So I won't tell you to take dancing lessons ... but any chance that you get to socialize just a bit or say a friendly hello to a neighbor and launch a small conversation would give you conversational skills that you could then use at school or the mall or wherever you could make friends with people your own age.