Looking to give and receive non judgmental, social support.

I am a dude afflicted with generalized anxiety and major depressive disorders, and talking to someone about these topics can make you a big misfit on top of already being one for playing games heavily. Having someone to help you cope might make a difference, but finding that person can be difficult when mental health is so stigmatized. Thus I'm looking for people that not only share my interests in stuff considered nerdy, but also has anxiety and/or depression.

I'm pretty open minded and I'm a great listener. We will be talking more than gaming (if we even do that, I don't always have the motivation). Tell me about yourself here or via private message if you are interested.

@cowboys789: I have severe anxiety and bouts of depression. I never received treatment for it while growing up because my mom said it was 'all in my head'. I'm 29 years old now and I've gone my whole life coping with it on my own. There have been times when I've gone to a grocery store and dismissed half the items on my list because I HAD to leave.

As far as finding someone; I'm engaged to a woman that's 7 years older than I. She's tall, gorgeous and interesting. She's educated and loves 'nerdy' things. You wouldn't know it by just looking at her.

@plageus900: That's great that you found someone to aid you, but dating for me is out of the question. There are days where I am in no condition to leave the house.

I have social anxiety disorder. It's important to be around people when you are not feeling like it. That, and acknowledge the panic, and attempt to become panicked when you arent already. It's a weird mind trick, and has helped me lessen the effects. Since the panic usually happens when I dont want it, trying to trigger it on it's own has lessened the attacks when I do have them normally. I try to not play games as much as I used to. I found playing tons of games, then going back to reality would kind of make me feel like I was in a game. As the player character in a game, everything revolves around you, people in the game notice you more, etc etc. I would start feeling like that in real life, and not in a good way, just feeling like everything revolved around me.

Little tricks like that, along with being outside more, have greatly lessened the panic attacks.

@hillelslovak: I have friends in real life but they don't seem to care about me personally. Some don't even make an effort to reconnect if I simply stop messaging them.

I know a lot about anxiety. It can be crippling. I had to change a lot in my life to lessen it. I still get it from time-to-time but nowhere near as bad as I used to.

Do they know anything about the anxiety issues?

therapy and meds can help.

Don't stress though man, just work on becoming a better person and things get better.

Religion and hobbies too.

One knows I have MDD and has only treated me a bit better, another I've talked about other personal issues but he never got invested in them. I don't really have friends they're more acquaintances than anything. Being a nervous man is awful, it is really non masculine and I feel conscious about it. I took flak for being sort of cowardly before I got GAD.

My parents are too old fashioned and can't truly wrap their heads around it.

edit:I have taken meds, done some therapy and I'm an atheist. Also forgot to mention I've purged many people I knew wouldn't miss me if I disappeared.

For me, boxing helped. I got new friends from it. When I panic, I hyperventilate, sweat, and get nausea. Boxing, where youre getting hit in the head or organs, made me less panicked then buying food at the grocery store. I would get sweaty, but so was everyone else. Find something you can really focus on. When you panic, do that thing.

There's also a book by Viktor Frankl called Man's Search for Meaning. It helped me to lessen panic attacks a bit before they happen. Forcing your body to trick itself out of panic and all that.

As far as friends, its like anything else, if they dont accept you, dont sweat it.

@cowboys789: She doesnt aid me. She just shares the same interests.

yeah, but you also have to sleep between work and 'social hours' somehow ... I m sorry ;)