Something good did come of the situation. My acute condition forced me to get professional advise for a problem I had battled since elementary school. The therapy helped as did some books on the subject. I am not cured, but I am improving. Following are some of the principles that have helped.
Anxiety is a learned behavior.
Psychologist Archibald Hart says that we learn anxiety as children. Since what we worry about rarely comes to pass, children sometimes think that their worry prevents undesirable events. This is then reinforced when they forget to worry and something bad does happen. As adults, while we may be consciously unaware of it, some of us really do think that worry helps. The good thing is that if anxiety can be learned, it can be unlearned.