1. Cognitive therapy-lite : Try to maintain a journal where you divide a page into 2 columns. LHS : negative thought, such as, "I cannot talk to people; no one

1. Cognitive therapy-lite : Try to maintain a journal where you divide a page into 2 columns. LHS : negative thought, such as, "I cannot talk to people; no one likes me". RHS : objective assessment, such as, "Actually, I can talk to people at times, especially if I am not feeling depressed, and I approach the situation casually. There are people who like me and try to encourage me such as x and y. I may be subtly making unnecessarily universal statements such as 'I cannot talk to people (AT ALL)'". After some time, you will get good at correcting your excessively-negative thoughts without writing them down on paper. You have to short circuit the mental negative talk quickly, otherwise, it snowballs into a familiar state of depression. Read Burns' "Feeling Good" book if you can get your hands on it in India. 2. Whenever you get some deep, positive insights, write them down in one place. For example, you may be sitting at the college canteen drinking some tea and wallowing in self-pity when suddenly a person with no legs comes over to beg for a rupee, and you suddenly see that life can be much much worse than a temporary lack of social skills! At least you have your legs. This may seem too trivial to be an "insight", but that is just your depression talking again. It can be a jolting thought that forces you to play the best game you can given the cards you were dealt out. The age of 21 is like that. "This too shall pass", as some wise man said. All the best! :-)