It could be the meds making you anxious. Depending on what I was on made my anxiety levels different. Now they are at a level where I can control the anxiety *most* of the time.

CBT especially helped my anxiety, I noticed it when I did it for the first time 10 years ago and it worked for a few years, then I forgot about it I think, the anxiety got bad again and all the cbt went out the window. Now I am doing CBT again I have been able to keep a hold on it. It is definitely beneficial for my anxiety. Sure there are times when I am just anxious with no thoughts fueling it, those are the times I use mindfulness or meditation, or even just some deep breathing to ground me. I use positive self talk to get through stressful situations and when I need to I will use some tension tamer tea (it drugs me more than ativan!) I very rarely use PRN for anxiety no days.

I still dont really enjoy socialising but its much easier to do it now when I am not fighting an inner battle, worrying that I was about to throw up on them or what they might be thinking of me.

My interest in conversation depends on my mood state. If I am lower I find it hard to be an active participant because, yeah I dont really care about the trivial things they are talking about. But I fake it til I start to actually get interested again. I need to remember to smile, make eye contact and have open body language, usually after a while of doing this I do find that I become engaged.