I see a psychotherapist every few months to get my ADD medication and I finally decided to tell him about my social anxiety. He suggested I start taking Zoloft and suggested I talk to a CBT (cognitive behavior therapist).

So I did both. The therapist suggested my problems might be with intimacy and not social interactions per se. I think she might have a point. I've only seen her once and it was mostly information gathering on her part. I see her again tomorrow though and plan to talk a lot more about my issues with sex and dating and maybe even my flirtations with the pickup community.

I also read a really great book about CBT: When Panic Attacks by David Burns. It's definitely worth reading for anyone dealing with approach anxiety.

I'm not sure what to say about Zoloft yet. Some people (including that book) claim that SSRIs like Zoloft and Prozac are really not much more than placebos when it comes to anxiety and depression.

In any case, I've been taking Zoloft for about four weeks now, and my inhibitions have gone WAY down. For the first time ever, I've been able to talk with my friends (male and female) about porn and masturbation. My family also noticed the change in me, over thanksgiving.

The main downside to the Zoloft: I went two weeks without ejaculating. Problems started on the very first morning and got progressively worse, until I couldn't ejaculate at all.

I bought a fleshlight and a cobra libre to help with the "work". Both are incredibly fun tools, but neither helped with the problem. I'm not even entirely sure things have changed, because I missed a dose yesterday.

On the other hand, I realize it's not really a bad problem to have. Now that I know I'm not permanently broken down there, I think it can be a good tool for helping with my AA.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. I've been lurking for ages and finally feel like I can actually start doing something in this area. I thought some of you guys might be interested in hearing about it.