Hi, I am new to this web site. I am a 21 year old male, who, two years ago, used to read. I stopped reading books two years ago, after moving to Georgia from Long Island, New York. I used to read at least 120 pages a week. When I was attending college in New York, I had to take a reading course because I did not do so well in my entrance exam. That was the first time I actually dedicated myself to improve my reading skills. Right now, however, I am depressed, since I have social anxiety and no friends at all. I just want to be able to read again and enjoy it. Every time I try to read, I am too depressed (as I mentioned before), and I end up sleeping for two hours. It would have been great if I read when I was a child. I didn't start reading until my first semester in college. Does anyone here know of any activities I can participate in to make me read again? Also, does anyone know of any book chat rooms online, one that is always available?
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Hi everyone
- Thread starter MobiusX
- Start date
abecedarian
Well-Known Member
Hi and welcome to TBF. This forum is always open and there's nearly always somebody around to talk to. What type of books are you interested in? Are you getting medical attention for the depression? If not, why not? If so, maybe picking out a few children's books might be a good way to ease back into the reading life. Choose titles in your interest areas if you can..librarians love to help with this one..tell them you're doing research if you're embarrassed..The main thing is to start somewhere and keep after it 
Peder
Well-Known Member
Hi MobiusX,
Welcome to TBF definitely! Somehow or other there will be a way here to respond to your book needs. ABC has already said most of what I would say. The motto here is "read, review, discuss" but you can also get great suggestions to start the process. Or jump in whenever you see something being said where you might also have two cents worth to say. Or even just to say hello. True depression needs outside help, as ABC suggested. But I would also add that books should perhaps not be your only life. Getting out and around, even only walking, or finding some activvity or a friendly group could also be a part of your life and give it a different feeling. Figure out your interests and go from there. Read about them, or do them.
Welcome aboard!
Peder
Welcome to TBF definitely! Somehow or other there will be a way here to respond to your book needs. ABC has already said most of what I would say. The motto here is "read, review, discuss" but you can also get great suggestions to start the process. Or jump in whenever you see something being said where you might also have two cents worth to say. Or even just to say hello. True depression needs outside help, as ABC suggested. But I would also add that books should perhaps not be your only life. Getting out and around, even only walking, or finding some activvity or a friendly group could also be a part of your life and give it a different feeling. Figure out your interests and go from there. Read about them, or do them.
Welcome aboard!
Peder
Halo
New Member
Welcome to the forum, MobiusX!
As ABC and Peder have said, there's usually someone around here to talk to! And it doesn't always have to be about books. Check out the film or general chat forums if you'd like non-book chat. Reading groups get you talking with people, but because of your social anxiety I would say that talking here would be ideal, because you don't have the pressure of being face-to-face with someone. You can be anonymous behind your keyboard!
As for the books, perhaps a humorous book would be a good starting point? Something light and fun - reading shouldn't be a chore. This thread has quite a few recommendations for books people have found amusing.
As ABC and Peder have said, there's usually someone around here to talk to! And it doesn't always have to be about books. Check out the film or general chat forums if you'd like non-book chat.
Reading groups get you talking with people, but because of your social anxiety I would say that talking here would be ideal, because you don't have the pressure of being face-to-face with someone. You can be anonymous behind your keyboard!As for the books, perhaps a humorous book would be a good starting point? Something light and fun - reading shouldn't be a chore. This thread has quite a few recommendations for books people have found amusing.
emptyparkinglot
New Member
Ditto to everything just said. Stay for awhile and you'll love hanging your hat (and your head) with us. I've only been here for a few days and I love it! People are nice, talk is good and diversified and the people don't really have cliques. If you have something to say, you'll most likely be heard by someone. As for the reading; just get started and don't give up! I know how it feels to be in a "reading slump" it's awful! But the more you do it, the easier it will come. Right now you may not have the ambition, but I will put my money on the fact that if you get into the right books, you'll take off!
Good luck, man! And a hearty welcome!
Good luck, man! And a hearty welcome!
TerishD
New Member
Reply
I would be depressed if I had to move to New England as well. Welcome to the site. I find it strange that you are allowing your social anxiety to stop you from reading, because it always drove me to reading. Anyway, I have enjoyed my short time here, and I feel that you will as well.
I would be depressed if I had to move to New England as well. Welcome to the site. I find it strange that you are allowing your social anxiety to stop you from reading, because it always drove me to reading. Anyway, I have enjoyed my short time here, and I feel that you will as well.
Inkheart
New Member
Try reading magazines Mobius. I had the same thing as you up until very recently. I was very depressed and just the thought of opening a book made me feel even worse. Start with magazines that have short articles of interest to you. Read short items online. After a while I began to get back into reading and picked up a light book to read. It wasn't long before I was just as addicted to reading as I was before I got ill. I would like to point out that I was receiving treatment during my depression and this helped an awful lot.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Sitaram
kickbox
MobiusX said:
http://www.netauthor.org/e2k/stacks/INTERV_fawn.html
The above link mentions an IRC channel on undernet, #Authors .
You would need to download and install the free mIRC chat client, and learn a few commands.
Here is a link to learn more about mIRC chat client
http://mirc.net/
http://www.mirc.co.uk/get.html
I shall visit #Authors and check it out. I shall also search for other 24/7 literature chats.
Sitaram
kickbox
Here are some reading suggestions which may possibly serve a two-fold purpose of renewing your appetite for reading, as well as helping you to gain a different perspective on what troubles you.
Years ago, a counselor suggested that I read, “When You Meet the Buddha On the Road, Kill Him” by Sheldon Kopp, which has nothing to do with Buddhism or religion, but is an account of several cases which the psychoanalyst author treated. Kopp’s style is replete with anecdotes from all sorts of literature and cultural traditions to illustrate his points. It is a charming, delightful read. The book changed my life in certain ways.
I should perhaps explain Kopp's choice of title, which comes from an old Zen saying. For Kopp, this saying/title means that you must ultimately become your own guru or analyst; you dependence upon someone or something external should be only a transitional stage, and shall cripple you unless you destroy it. One patient, after years of analysis, realizing that the time for termination was at hand, asked Kopp "whatever shall I do without you?" Kopp answered; "When you finally terminate your sessions, you will have internalized me as a voice, and you shall continue on in dialogue with that voice for the remainder of your life" (i.e. you shall become your own counselor).
My mother, and some of my teachers, have been dead for some years now, yet whenever I leave a room, I still hear her voice saying "Turn off the lights! Close the door! Do you think we live in a barn! Am I your maid? etc." and I can still hear Jacob Kline quoting Aristotle, "before we ask 'What is it?', we must ask 'Is it?' ".
Another book to look for is “The Viscott Method” by David Viscott. The book outlines a series of exercises in self examination, performed by using a tape recorder to respond to various questions which David Viscott has found useful over the years. Later in the course, you will listen to your previous answers, and then answer additional questions. At a certain point, you will be asked to write a letter to someone in your life with whom you have issues. The letter is not meant to be mailed, but is an exercise for you to at least say on paper what you never had a chance to say in person in real life. Sometimes people write such a letter, as an exercise, to a deceased parent or sibling.
If you come to enjoy Viscott, you might like to read his autobiographical "The Making of A Psychiatrist". For me, the most memorable thing he said there is this: "Medical school is so cut-throat competitive that by the time someone finishes a five year residency in Psychiatry, they are "as tough as a hard-boiled owl", and yet the most important quality for them to possess, compassion, has now vanished."
Years ago, a counselor suggested that I read, “When You Meet the Buddha On the Road, Kill Him” by Sheldon Kopp, which has nothing to do with Buddhism or religion, but is an account of several cases which the psychoanalyst author treated. Kopp’s style is replete with anecdotes from all sorts of literature and cultural traditions to illustrate his points. It is a charming, delightful read. The book changed my life in certain ways.
I should perhaps explain Kopp's choice of title, which comes from an old Zen saying. For Kopp, this saying/title means that you must ultimately become your own guru or analyst; you dependence upon someone or something external should be only a transitional stage, and shall cripple you unless you destroy it. One patient, after years of analysis, realizing that the time for termination was at hand, asked Kopp "whatever shall I do without you?" Kopp answered; "When you finally terminate your sessions, you will have internalized me as a voice, and you shall continue on in dialogue with that voice for the remainder of your life" (i.e. you shall become your own counselor).
My mother, and some of my teachers, have been dead for some years now, yet whenever I leave a room, I still hear her voice saying "Turn off the lights! Close the door! Do you think we live in a barn! Am I your maid? etc." and I can still hear Jacob Kline quoting Aristotle, "before we ask 'What is it?', we must ask 'Is it?' ".
Another book to look for is “The Viscott Method” by David Viscott. The book outlines a series of exercises in self examination, performed by using a tape recorder to respond to various questions which David Viscott has found useful over the years. Later in the course, you will listen to your previous answers, and then answer additional questions. At a certain point, you will be asked to write a letter to someone in your life with whom you have issues. The letter is not meant to be mailed, but is an exercise for you to at least say on paper what you never had a chance to say in person in real life. Sometimes people write such a letter, as an exercise, to a deceased parent or sibling.
If you come to enjoy Viscott, you might like to read his autobiographical "The Making of A Psychiatrist". For me, the most memorable thing he said there is this: "Medical school is so cut-throat competitive that by the time someone finishes a five year residency in Psychiatry, they are "as tough as a hard-boiled owl", and yet the most important quality for them to possess, compassion, has now vanished."