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My difficulty with interacting with people has pretty much been snuffed out. I havn't really thought much about how I made the change. But basically I just started looking at everyone else more closely. Looking at the things that make them interesting, looking for things that others might have in common with me, forgiving cruel/ignorant people for the way they treat me. Its getting to the point now where I'm excited by the idea of meeting people. My fear and misconceptions are fading away.

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ah, i'm the opposite to that. when i was growing up i was painfully aware that my lack of connections emotionally and susceptability to depression marked me out so i did try, and i have been through manic phases (am bipolar) where i've been out in clubs every night and so on. however, i've always secretly harboured this very cynical outlook on people: i see them as having ulterior motives, i rarely trust people. and this is everyone. it's been suppressed for so long and now i've fessed up it's getting worse and worse, as i've got older my mistrust of people generally has deepened. and this is where the problem is: i feel it's worsening but i don't know how to stop it.

what you said about not being moved by tragedy, well, i am, but not when it's people i know. i get quite upset about stuff like darfur, soviet oppression, nazism, bigotry, rwanda, humanitarian crises and so on: if the subject of the tragedy is removed from me, and totally separate from my life, i get moved. if it's someone in my life i find it hard to even generate empathy a lot of the time. they'll say someone's been injured or whatever and i think "why the fuss?".

i don't know whether the reasons that the Tdoc and i think are likely to have caused these reactions really justify it, i'm just not sure. maybe they do, maybe not, but i need ot get a handle on this and stop it getting on top of me.