Thanks very much for your replies...I agree that not doing anything could allow this to get much worse, and I'm going to look around for a private therapist, and also check out some of those self-help books. (I did some looking last night, even...which made me feel progressive.)

I am going to push myself to "avoid avoidance" too. It's going to be hard, but I agree with what you said, that every time the anxiety wins, it just gets harder to overcome it.

Thanks!