YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I guess the only thing to say about myself is that I'm a 20 year old living in New York and despite the fact I live in one of the most over populated regions in the world, I still have trouble making friends, figures. This causes me loneliness and shame, and yeah. I'm not sure exactly what else to say. I guess I'm just here to talk to others who are feeling similar things and try and connect with others. I love the podcast, it makes my work days seem much shorter than they actually are. It helps me greatly when I'm procrastinating greatly, lol. So I guess I just wanted to say hi to the other listeners here. Thanks.

Hello Will! Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum. My name is Dan. I've been coming to the forum for a couple of months and I've found it a really good starting point for reaching out to people. I hope you find that too.

by dare i say it » March 10th, 2012, 10:24 pm

Hello Will! Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum. My name is Dan. I've been coming to the forum for a couple of months and I've found it a really good starting point for reaching out to people. I hope you find that too.

Thank you Dan! I hope so as well. I guess I'm just having trouble figuring out where to start to be honest.

That's a fair point. Although it may seem like there are hundreds of active members in this forum, the number of people who actually write posts is quite a bit smaller. So, go ahead and look around at what other people have written, but if you're want a little more back-and-forth, try responding to something that was written in the last week or so. There should be a button near the top of your page that says "View active topics." If you have other questions, let me know.

Hi Will, I'm new here, too. I get how it can be-- you can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely. Here's hoping the forums make us all feel a sense of community.

Hey, Will. The loneliest I've ever felt was standing in the middle of downtown Tokyo (which is 50% more dense than NYC); there's something about a big city, being so close to so many people all of whom have trained themselves to ignore you and everyone else, that's incredibly depressing.

The flip side is that when you travel away from people, everyone becomes friendlier. When I was in the desert in west TX, there were places where you could drive 70 mph and not see another car for half an hour. When you did pass a car, you both waved to each other, just happy to see another face. Everyone you met turned into a five minute conversation, because you never knew when you would meet the next person.

So hang in there. Ironically, you're probably surrounded by people who feel the same way.

Will,

A late welcome to the forum. Apologies. I try to welcome people as they sign up, but the busier the show gets the harder it is to keep track.

We're glad you're here. We know how that loneliness feels. The way to safety for me was therapy and psychiatrist visits, then support groups. If you enjoy this show, know that it would not be possible without me reaching out to each of those resources.

Paul