Monday, August 7th! New to 7 Cups? Welcome! Introduce yourself to our community here!

@Power Welcome everyone..!!

@Power hiii guys...

Hello. I'm a n00b here.

While I get used to this layout and stuff on my phone can someone point me in the direction of some resources for dealing with depression?

Thanks a ton

Hello...just joined.

Starting my therapy journey...i have discovered i am a very angry resentful person who suffers depression and recently has started to display self harm behaviours...so gar i have hit a wall and damaged my hand and have hit my own head against a hollow nathroom door 3 times...all of this in front of my wife during an argument. We are (im not) in a good place in the relationship by making her live this....i am starting counselling next week as well and need to pull out all the stops to deal with my issues and get to a bettwr place in life.

Hi, my name is Megan. I just joined today.

Rdrunner, I wish you luck in your therapy.

Hello people!

My name is Sebastiaan, I'm 22 years old and I recently moved back to the Netherlands from Belgium.
I've just recently passed a tough time in my life, but things are looking a lot more positive now.

I've always had an interest for helping people out and being there for those in need. At the moment I have a lot of free time on my hands so I decided to join you guys and learn more about listening etc.

The community seems very warm and friendly and I'm thankful for being welcommed so nicely!

Greetings, Sebastiaan

Hi everyone!

My name is Dale (no it's not - it's a convenient stand-in for my real name which is usually mispronounced by non-my-native-language speakers; also I just like the sound of 'Dale', way better then my actual name) and I think I have severe social anxiety and have been mildly depressed for the last 11-13 years. The "I think" part means that I've never acually been diagnosed by a trained professional, but the results of every online test that I've taken over the years usually have the cheerful life-affirming rendition of the phrase "YOU HAVE SEVERE ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. PLEASE SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP!". And while it would be nice to have regular chats with a therapist or get some "feel-good party pills" from the friendly local pedl... psychiatrist, the first option is frankly overpriced (50 Euro per visit in a country with a net median wage of 600-700 Euro per month should be considered highway robbery, afaic) and the second one almost made me lose my mind (really bad experience - the good doctor was adamant that I'm suffering from bipolar, so I had to endure a month of olanzapine; at least now I know what it feels like to have no thoughts or emotions what-so-ever - SPOILERS: *not good, like, at all*).
Anywho, I can't connect with people that well. I can interact with them on a daily basis, I am not afraid of talking to unfamiliar people, heck, I can even manage a somewhat large network of old friends (pre-depression and anxiety), new friends (fellow depressed misanthropes from high school and uni), colleagues ("keep your friends close, your enemies closer") and acquaintances (a few rando weirdos - convenient to have on standby for odd jobs and good times) who for some reason DON'T hate me and are willing to hang out from time to time. However, although I can kinda-sorta navigate myself through the shallow waters of the sea of Necessery Day-to-day Socialization, the cringe-worthy name just given to this process can't even begin to convey the sheer awkwardness of the whole ordeal. Every interaction I have with other people seems both forced and stifled at the same time - I want to say so much yet I end up saying very little (this post is a good example of this - when I get a chance to write down my thoughts, the floodgates are opened and there's just no stopping the torrents of verbal sewage). I can't establish a deep connection with anyone since in real life I tend to apply so many filters to my conversations - all because of my desire to please people.

I hate making people uncomfortable. I try to avoid conflict as much as possible. I smile when I ought to be enraged. I become passive when I should be taking action. I think the word "moist" sounds great, but would never tell that to anyone within my network of peeps (yes, "peeps" IS an acceptable stand-in for "people" and no, I don't care whether anyone thinks I'm a lunatic or not). This internal censorship is driving me insane - it messed up my ability to focus, it messed up the relationships with the little number of family members I still have, it prohibits me from learning, establishing new enjoyable relationships, having freakin' life goals (alas, "being a wisecracking apathetic nihilist" is not a valid life goal nor a good previous job description). Therefore, I decided to change something in the way I approach interpersonal discourse. Unfortunately, I have no clue where to start or what is it that I am supposed to do to conquer my sever social anxiety and mild depression (please don't say "steal a horse, hit the Steppes, build a yurt, subjugate Eastern Europe", 'cause I am sure that you don't have to be "the Mongols" to become more assertive and stop feeling like doo-doo about your life). I hope that there is someone who can help me out with this. I also hope I did not bore anyone reading this depressed, anxious geek's tyrade - these long-winded 'esseys' help to unwind (pun intended, not sorry). I also also hope that I did not break any rules and it is in fact okay to leave a long post in this section - please don't ban me, I will atone for my sins in any way I can (people pleasing is what I do BEST).

TL;DR. Am anxious, depressed. Don't know how stop. Need help. Please help.

- Cheers, 'Dale'.