I almost laughed reading this because even after 20+ years I STILL get like that! I can go from being the most rational, high-functioning person to an absolute wreck because of anxiety. I'm a bit better at dealing with it but no way would I say I've overcome it. I do have some major stressors in my life but in some ways I have it easy compared to other people. I've found that the best way to deal with it is to just try and accept it.

My psychiatrist likes to go sailing and he told me about how he's been caught in a few storms and been absolutely terrified. He said anxiety is like that and if you hang in there it will pass (rather than jumping overboard). So when I have a bad anxiety attack I just lie there and think about him on the boat waiting for the storm to pass. The biggest trick is to not add to what Claire Weekes calls the "first fear".. You can get anxious for no apparent reason and then you start to get anxious about being anxious. If you can just accept that initial anxiety you stop the vicious cycle.