I totally agree with blueoctober - I used to go only for jobs that I felt fit my intelligence and skills, and ended up stressed and overworked and miserable. I've also accepted jobs that I thought I was being paranoid about and found out my gut feeling was right on. Now I have a low-level job where I can choose if I want to move up the ladder or stay right where I am and I really enjoy being able to leave it at the office when I go home. I balance the mindlessness by creating intellectual challenges in my private life - I take classes, write, play the piano, read a lot. It can be as simple as seeing how many questions I can answer on Jeopardy.

Telling yourself to STOP is a good tool to use. It's a cliche, but it's true that there's no use crying over spilled milk. I know perfectly sane people who do the same thing - they worry so much about losing their job that they don't spend enough time DOING their job and end up getting fired.

So...therapist, definitely. And if you find yourself afraid to try something, ask yourself what's the worst thing that could happen. If it's not going to kill you or cause you to go to jail, or hurt someone else, then give it a go. That way you can learn what situations you should avoid and which ones you're holding back from because of your paranoia. And you certainly won't miss any opportunities if you try most everything.