Hi Brokenentity: I came from a family, as well as from a time period, when nobody talked about personal problems or emotions of any sort. I recall when I was a young teenager, my father told me one day, since I was getting a bit older at that point, I shouldn't feel as though I needed to hug him anymore. I don't think I ever did.

Nowadays, I live in a suburb where there are allot of older people (like me!) No one I have any interaction with here ever talks about personal problems or emotions either. I don't think people in general do this. And I think men tend to be worse at this than women. I do think women, at least with close friends, may be more likely to share their inner thoughts & feelings.

I know, for myself, it took me many years, including 2 major suicide attempts, to get to the point where I could share at least a small portion of what's inside. And, even at that, it's tough. I even read posts here on PC & I'll think: "Boy... I would never write anything as personal as that!"

The thing I think helped me the most was to participate in group therapy sessions during my 2 hospitalizations. I had always told myself I would never do anything like that. But, at that point, I had to. And I found I actually enjoyed it & it helped me to open up just a bit. If some kind of group therapy situation was convenient for me to get to now, I would probably go.