Please or to access all these features

Mental health

Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have medical concerns, please seek medical attention.

Prozac (fluoxetine) for social anxiety and OCD

5 replies

Nietz93 · 28/03/2026 23:45

Hello everyone,

I am considering talking to my doctor about trying Prozac for social anxiety and OCD as I'm feeling a bit desperate. If you have time to read, here is my story:

Social anxiety:

I’m single, and I’d really like to meet a woman to share my life with. When I’m feeling less anxious, I sometimes arrange dates. But when the day of the meeting comes, I start feeling anxious from the morning and all I want to do is sleep. A few hours before the scheduled time, I usually message the person to postpone, saying I’m very tired from work. We then arrange another date, but when that day arrives, the anxiety comes back again, and I end up contacting them to cancel altogether, saying it’s not the right time for me to be seeing someone and apologizing.

Sometimes the anxiety has been so intense that I haven’t even managed to message the person—I’ve just disappeared. In that moment, the anxiety goes away, but then I’m left with feelings of guilt for not having treated them well and for missing yet another chance to get to know someone.

OCD:

I’ve been in psychoanalytic therapy since 2022, attending sessions three times a week. Through therapy, it’s become clear that I tend to ruminate a lot.

For example, if someone doesn’t answer my calls or messages, I start thinking that something serious has happened—like they’ve died—and I end up sending more messages to make sure that’s not the case. Other times, I convince myself that the person is angry with me and no longer wants to speak to me, even though there’s no real reason for it.

Another example happened recently. At the end of each month, my therapist usually sends me an invoice for the sessions. One time, it didn’t arrive by the end of the month, and after a few hours I began to worry that something had happened to her—like she’d been hit by a car and died. I went on WhatsApp to check if she was online, but I couldn’t see her last activity. My anxiety kept increasing. For about half an hour, I thought about emailing her to say I hadn’t received the invoice as usual, but at the same time I felt a deep sense of shame.

The anxiety continued to build, so I eventually sent the email—it was around 11 p.m. The next morning, I woke up and still hadn’t received a reply. My anxiety came back, so I decided to send another email, explaining that I’m a very anxious person and that not receiving her invoice by the end of the month had made me worry.

Has anyone experienced similar fears?
Has anyone found Prozac helpful for both social anxiety and OCD? If so, what was your dose?

Thank you in advance for those of you who will take the time to read my story and reply. It means a lot to me! ✨️

OP posts:
PinkBiteyPony · 29/03/2026 16:07

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this OP, social anxiety is really tough and from experience, it can easily spiral.

I know you said you’ve been in therapy, have you tried CBT / DBT?

And medically, I would suggest talking it through with your Dr to see what works best for you. From my own personal experience, I found sertraline very helpful.

It might take some time but with your Drs support I’m sure you’ll be able to work out what works best for you. Good luck OP.

Nietz93 · 29/03/2026 18:38

PinkBiteyPony · 29/03/2026 16:07

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this OP, social anxiety is really tough and from experience, it can easily spiral.

I know you said you’ve been in therapy, have you tried CBT / DBT?

And medically, I would suggest talking it through with your Dr to see what works best for you. From my own personal experience, I found sertraline very helpful.

It might take some time but with your Drs support I’m sure you’ll be able to work out what works best for you. Good luck OP.

Edited

Thank you! 😊 I'm in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Never tried CBT. I'm also talking Setraline, prescribed by my psychiatrist, but it's making me reply sleepy, I've just started though. I probably have to be patient. How much sertraline do you take? I'm due to increase to 50mg in a few days but my psychiatrist said that it usually works for OCD at higher doses but we'll have to get there gradually

OP posts:
BloodandGlitter · 29/03/2026 19:16

Oh you sound so much like me with the way your fears escalate, on a bad day I presume my husband has died if I don't hear from him within a certain time frame. Then obviously I can't go check to reassure myself because it's too scary.

I have GAD, MDD, BPD, OCD, mild agoraphobia and horrible social anxiety. I've been on fluoxetine for years now. Started on 20mg I'm now on 40mg. I do take Quetiapine too. There are still a lot of bad days but it's so much easier than it was unmedicated.

Nietz93 · 29/03/2026 19:47

Thank you for sharing your experience! How much your social anxiety has improved since you moved to 40mg? I really want to get out there a bit but I always end up cancelling 😩 the OCD is bad but social anxiety is even worse!

OP posts:
Nietz93 · 29/03/2026 20:49

BloodandGlitter · 29/03/2026 19:16

Oh you sound so much like me with the way your fears escalate, on a bad day I presume my husband has died if I don't hear from him within a certain time frame. Then obviously I can't go check to reassure myself because it's too scary.

I have GAD, MDD, BPD, OCD, mild agoraphobia and horrible social anxiety. I've been on fluoxetine for years now. Started on 20mg I'm now on 40mg. I do take Quetiapine too. There are still a lot of bad days but it's so much easier than it was unmedicated.

Thank you for sharing your experience! How much your social anxiety has improved since you moved to 40mg? I really want to get out there a bit but I always end up cancelling 😩 the OCD is bad but social anxiety is even worse!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page