I think many men will be able to relate. It seems like there was trauma on multiple levels, both related to attracting/seducing women and other aspects of life.
I think a lot of men end up disappointed with their college sexual marketplace experiences. This forum has 2 good college sex threads below. For a lot of men, the college sex experience doesn't match up with their expectations entering college. In college, freshman males have a narrower dating pool whereas freshman females are desired by other freshmen, upperclassmen, graduate students, and even men in the working world. The marketplace is imbalanced at first. The college sex experience can get better from sophomore-senior years. Most guys aren't scoring all that much, even at "party schools" and most opt for some sort of girlfriend (if they can even get one) in order to get semi regular college sex.
I thought I'd share this as someone who went to a party school and was in a fraternity there as well. Not wanting to give too much about myself but I went to UGA and graduated a few years ago. While Athens has its hot girls, I do feel like the quality got worse every year due to the admission...
www.sosuave.net
Looking back at it, I am amazed at how big the hype around college truly was. Maybe my boy @CornbreadFed and @SW15 could speak on this but I speak with so many guys who seem to have peaked in college and don't realize how beautiful life can get after it. FWIW, I was in a fraternity in college, a...
www.sosuave.net
Therapy is very limited in what it can do for a man from a dating perspective. The changes that a man might see in his dating life are usually incremental at best after completing 1+ years of therapy.
Going to therapy is unlikely to make a man a better real life approacher. It's possible that therapy that can help with some social awkwardness in approaches and it might help some men make better first impressions. Better first impressions aren't automatic 'yes' responses to getting first dates from approaches. A better first impression might mean changing a 'hard no where a woman feels ick' to a 'meh and forgettable' feeling. Going to therapy is also not going to get a man more right swipes on a swipe app. It's not going to change much with how well he turns his swipe app matches into first dates. It probably won't make too much of a difference on his reply rate on Instagram DM's either. The best thing that men can do with getting more first dates is building a more attractive physique in the gym. Older men (35+) will often benefit from the
@Mike32ct identified combo of good height, good hairline, and money.
I could make an argument that therapy might help with longer form first dates. However, I tend to think the effects of therapy on dating outcomes are more meaningful as a interaction goes on. If a man is unable to get that first spark, having better mental health is not going to make a lot of a difference.
I don't think couples therapy/counseling is all that valuable in fixing what ails longer term relationships, but that's more of a topic for a different thread.
Therapy might be worth doing solely for yourself. It depends on a number of factors. If the primary problem is dating, then traditional psychotherapy will be limited on what it can do.