I've been avoiding asking out girls for a long time because of social anxiety and my therapist explained to me that that behaviour has lead to depression because of the loneliness I feel.

The thing is, a lot of girls think I'm cute and what not and some of them even try to put themselves in a situation where I would ask them out. I'm so socially anxious that I would literally try to escape them or get out of those situations because I would rather run away then actually talk to them. Then I always feel terrible about it because not only am I making myself feel lonely and depressed, I'm also making the girls feel bad because they think they're not good enough or that they're ugly, so I feel like an asshole. Some of them even call me an asshole afterwards (which really doesn't help obviously).

Have any of you dealt with the same problem? How did you overcome your anxiety to be comfortable and confident when talking to girls?