Could barely talk a year ago. I was very depressed and lonely. Have went to stay at psychiatric clinics a couple of times. Only just recently got out again, but this time it was shorter than usua, only a couple of days. I’ve made some progress and now i can actually form a coherent sentence. Still incredibly afraid to talk to people. Still, after all this time I really don’t know the basics of social interaction How do you initiate a conversation with someone? How do you make friends?
inpatient rehab and NA worked for me but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that path unless you’re struggling with addiction, but the larger point there is that anything where you’re gathering with the same groups of people organized around a singular focus has potential. hobby and interest groups/meetups/clubs work for this because you have at least one thing in common off the bat to ground conversations. from there it’s a process of familiarity and feeling people out which can be onerous but is ultimately worth the effort.