I'm very concerned about.........(very long)

JT lately. He's been very depressed He told me last night that he doesn't like to think about having to choose his groomsmen for the wedding because he feels like he has no real friends and that he is not close to anyone. Of course this is not the truth, but I have noticed that he has a really difficult time making friends. He's painfully shy, and whenever we got out with another couple, he is so reluctant to loosen up and enjoy himself. He was not really allowed to have friends growing up because until he was 16 or 17, he had to go to his grandmother's house everyday after school and on Saturdays to stay with her until her nurse came at night. Then on Sundays, they would go to mass at 3:00, and his mother was afraid he would miss church, so he was not allowed to go out before that. So, the important process of developing those skills to make friends was severely hampered. He did have friends when he lived in Boston, but he met them because they were his roommates, and they turned out to be losers. I just don't know what to do to help him. How do you make someone socialize? I mean, in all the time we've been together, which is going to be four years, he's never really gone out with his friends. I practically pushed him out the door today because one of our friends wanted to go play baseball with him. I don't know. I just want him to be happy and to have good friends who he can hang out with and what not, but he just has such a hard time. I don't know. I guess that's all I have to say, no question really. I'm just worried about him.

Exactly the same with me. I don't really have a hard time making friends at all and I do enjoy meeting new people, so it's hard for me to understand. And he's not the type of guy who does 'guy' things. He likes baseball, but he's reluctant to join a team. He doesn't like to go to bars, he really doesn't like any other sports, etc. It's so freaking hard to help him sometimes because it's like he doesn't want friends.

rachel i have a somewhat similar thing...Mikes not a big conversation starter...For the bridal party its all family we both picked..But he has at least made friends when he started playing ice hockey, and volleyball(continuing ed program)... it has really helped alot because we then socialize with those people, have alot to talk about(we arent bar & club people either)...maybe he could join a summer softball team?