Brian - With all due respects to your physician, you need to be more aggressive in getting treatment given how severe and debilitating your symptoms have been. Zoloft can be very helpful but from my experience working with highly anxious people, the antidepressants usually have to be raised to higher than initial levels to be effective for the type of anxiety that you are describing. If you are still on the initial dose please ask for an increase immediately and see a mental health professional as soon as possible. There may be other medications that can or should be added to your current treatment to gain faster control of these terrible symptoms. Then a therapist can help you begin to develop more long term strategies to manage your social fears. Rick Wirtz Licensed Psychologist