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Thanks for the suggestion. I've been to a few actually (for bitcoin and spanish practice) and they were a lot of fun, but they never led to any deep friendships like those I used to have. Maybe I'm going to the wrong ones, or alternatively, it's possible I'm just not a very likable person.

I wish I would have. Sad thing is, the ease of developing new friendships seems to be a function of the number of existing ones. Once you reach zero, like I have, you're pretty much stuck there.

Same here. My old personality mostly comprised avoidance of any behavior that had occurred near a panic attack, which slowly began to cover more and more of the things I once enjoyed. My new personality is dominated by intellectual curiosity. Definitely an upgrade, though it also saddens me how much better my life would be had I started sooner.

As somebody who has suffered from depression and anxiety, this is (mostly) fantastic advice. I waited so long to try an SSRI because so many insist that they don't work. Yet, when I got on 20 mg of citalopram, panic attacks disappeared leaving only occasional situational anxiety, and my major depressive episodes were reduced to just a little occasional sadness (though this is admittedly confounded with a half dozen other measures I took).

Exercise is probably the reason I survived pre-citalopram. For me, the high only lasted while I was running and probably resulted in some overkill cardio, but just having a reliable method to make myself feel better was vital.