IIT student reveals facing mental health issues due to 'zero female interaction' in college

The IIT Kanpur student added that if the ongoing trend continued in his life, he feared he would never be able to make "genuine connections" with women until he got married.

A student studying at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur recently said that his mental health had been affected after being unable to make a single female friend in college.

Writing on Reddit, the student said that while he realised that friendships should not be "gender-dependent", the absence of female friends made him feel like he was losing out on "a significant aspect of social interaction."

"I wanted to reach out and share something that's been weighing heavily on my mind lately. I'm currently a student here at IITK, and I find myself in a situation where I have zero female interaction," the student wrote on the platform.

"This might sound trivial to some, but it's been making me feel quite down lately. I've realized that I haven't had the opportunity to make a single female friend since I've been here, and it's starting to affect my mental health," he added.

The IIT Kanpur student's Reddit post. (Image credit: Reddit/IITK).

The student added that if the ongoing trend continued in his life, he feared he would never be able to make "genuine connections" with women until he got married.

"I worry that this trend will continue, and I'll never have the chance to form genuine connections with women until an arranged marriage comes along. I want to break out of this pattern and develop meaningful friendships, but I'm not sure where to start," he wrote.

The student concluded the post asking for suggestions to overcome the problem and got many responses to his post with words of advice on how to tackle the issue.

"Join some extra curriculars. Don't chase women. They can smell that bs from far away. Get good at some activities beyond studies. Women love kind, attentive and self assured men. Be natural and you will attract some great friends. Women can be wonderful friends. You would be missing out if you don't experience platonic women friendships," one user wrote.

"Don’t think about such things it will only bring you down. Focus on self-improving and try to achieve mental balance," another user wrote.