Health Dept Magazine Health Dept Magazine

How do you start a social life from scratch when you're 22 and depressed?

I'm a deeply depressed, anxious, insecure 22 year old guy. (I am in therapy and on drugs for it.) I've been struggling with social anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem for almost ten years now, and I've had basically no social life since it started. Now I find myself in college, 22 years old, single, with no friends on campus, and I have no clue where people my age go to drink, to party, to flirt, to date, or do whatever it is they do. How do you start putting together a social life from scratch at 22 years old?

I desperately want to feel like I fit in, like I belong to a group--I can't remember ever being around people my age and not feeling painfully out of place, like I had no right to be there. The loneliness is killing me and my depression will only continue to get worse until I find a way out.

People tell me I'm good-looking and well-spoken, and don't come off as nervous. But if you're messed up in the head like me, none of that counts for much.