Septembermorn,
I'm definitely not down playing any ones suffering. I have 160,000 dollars of debt from dropping out of Chiropractic School and the inability to get out in the real world and pay it off, right now. But, these chemicals are just masking the problem, not solving it. they may bring relief (which non of them did in my case other than the valium which led to all sorts of problems). The control of adrenaline and the "fight or flight" response is done subconsciously and we have little to know control directly (although some monks have learned to control it quite well!). The idea is to face it head on and "disempower it". Think about it, however bad your symptoms of anxiety (I've been to the hospital many times) they have and will never kill you! They are just sensations. Identify this when they come up and say "I've felt this before, its nto going to kill me" and actually encourage it to be as horrible as it can be. Its not going to kill you, they are just sensations triggered by "F or F". By doing this (easier said than done) you are eliminating the fear of fear and actually in a sense gain control of the condition. Over time, the body will break down those neuron pathways that have become the normal response of your body (anxiety) and will start to reform more "normal" reactions. Be skeptical, I sure as hell am. But it has helped me to get the heck out of the house and I'm feeling very optimistic. What made me believe that it was all really in my head was the fact that when I'm alone or if I make it to the gym, I'm perfectly normal. Why??? Because I'm distracted in a way that allows my subconcious to be disempowered. If I'm normal sometimes, I believe I can learn to feel normal all the time.