Wow... it's nice to know I haven't blown things way out of proportion. Thanks so much for the thoughtful response.

I've already been to a therapist once, but it was just for a preliminary evaluation and a trial run on Wellbutrin (for what she diagnosed as ADD). I never mentioned the panic attacks. Recently I've been struggling just to FINALLY admit that I have a few things I need to work out and get help on, and I've been trying to figure out whether or not I'm just giving myself excuses for my inability to deal with certain situations.

I think I might well be "outgrowing" the attacks myself (I'll be seventeen in September, not that it makes any real difference--everybody is unique!), but I still get close to them, so I have to ask--what kind of things did you do to calm yourself and deal with the anxiety? I've heard of CBT, but I'm really not sure how it works... is there anything I could be doing for myself without a therapist involved?