Of course you can! My anxiety didn't start to get any better until I started seeing a therapist who specialized in anxiety/depression. From personal experience i recommend exercise and socializing, they are good ways of building self esteem and beginning to overcome your problems. But once you grow comfortable with yourself everything becomes a lot clearer. the mind is a complex thing and can easily overwhelm you if you let it. To me mental illness is just a state of mind that you can become trapped in, and as easy as you fall in you can fall out of it. I personally don't like the fact that depression, anxiety etc are considered mental illness'. keep the belief that you can overcome your problems no matter how depressed you may feel. i suffer from depression as well and i feel the most important thing to have whilst dealing with it is hope. for me personally the trick has been to remain positive and always look at the good side of things no matter how bad it seems. I have the same speech problems you do and sadly they are due to the anxiety, as you begin to conquer your anxiety the trouble to find words get easier. i still have anxiety issues but they are nowhere near as bad as they were. I've had the same problems since i was 13, i'm now 18 and can honestly say i'm a lot better than what i used to be.

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