This happened 7 years ago. I was in deep depression before it happened. My wife left me. My PhD research was going nowhere, stuck in the same place for years. No plan B. Nothing to live for. Not good.
My escape was going into online anonymous chat rooms and chatting up girls. On rare occasions, they were actually girls. On rarer occasions, I got to meet up and hook up. Even got some FWBs. Setting my standards very low helped. My only rule was unmarried and has a uterus. My other only rule was no falling in love and no getting into serious relationships.
One fateful night, I met a girl there. I thought she could be the one – the elusive hookup after just one convo. But she turned on me in the last minute and said she wanted more than one night. So one conversation turned into two, which turned into two months of online chatting, every night, all night.