I Am Depressed Because I'm Lonely
This doesn't apply to me much anymore. It's hard to be lonely with so many people to chat with on here now. =p
But yes... 99% of my depression in the past was due to isolation and loneliness. It was due to my social anxiety, or the end result of it. I didn't have any friends, online or offline. I was totally alone, with just my video games and books I've read over and over. I was stuck indoors, for years at a time.... Funny, I remember how afraid I was, when I finally had to leave the house, after staying in it for three years straight! I had gotten so very sick and had to be rushed to the hospital. The paramedics were trying to encourage me that it was okay, to come with them, and sit on the gurney... All I could think about was getting back inside the house! :-o
But, finally... slowly.... I began to get out more. I only leave the house twice a week now, but that's real progress! And I don't plan to just stop there. ;-)
Anyhoo... I am a very sociable person, despite my anxiety. So, it's been a monster of a thing, like a weight dragging me underwater. I wish to be free of it! But in the past, because of my fear of social situations and tough times with panic attacks, I became very isolated. And in that isolation, I was chronically lonely. The more lonely I felt, the more depressed I got! So in the years alone, I became dangerously depressed and suicidal. :-/
Well, I broke free of that, finally! Some medication and therapy. And then I found people on this site to interact with. And now I tend to move forward. I try not to be so isolated again... because that could easily send me back to that dark place. I don't do "lonely" very well. =p
