Dear ridiredhood:

You wrote: ” I do fall in love but not attracted to them. Is this normal? Will attraction develop over time? I had body image issues in past but now I do not.” A possible answer is that you don’t feel attraction because you are afraid, because of your anxiety. When we are anxious enough, the body shuts down, we become numb. This is naturally how the body responds to fear.

All of our functioning suffers because of anxiety, even academic success. Everything is minimized when we are anxious. So anything you can do to reduce, manage and even heal your anxiety will be most helpful. You can search maybe for free or very low cost psychotherapy, and/ or yoga classes, aerobic exercise (free, walk fast around a park) etc. Reduce your anxiety every day in ways that don’t harm you.

anita