My immediate reaction to this comes in the form of a question: If you believe yourself to be this man who has matured much more highly than his peers...and you believe you have this intelligence that allows you to "think for yourself," and furthermore, sets you apart and distinguishes you...then from where do these pangs of self-consciousness originate? Or, perhaps, could it be that your self-consciousness has nothing at all to do with those things, but those thoughts are reactions to those feelings—rationalizations? And that these rationalizations have become so intertwined with the feelings, that pondering self-consciousness has inevitably led to them interjecting themselves into your chains of thought? For what other purpose would they have found mention?
I must also ask what the ability to think in a more "independent" fashion has to do with depression. For thought can evoke the entire spectra of emotions, but it is the content and context of thoughts which lead to certain feelings.