What Adam said upthread - "I call it 'fake' anxiety because it doesn't feel like the real thing." - this is spot on for me. And should also be a dead ringer that it's PAWS. I have also always had anxiety, but PAWS anxiety is like being possessed - it's alien, and outside your body (even though it's coming from inside the house). There have been so many times that I've gone out to do something totally normal only to be overcome with anxiety, and it's like something I know I am not normally afraid of. It's just PAWS - somewhere in the brain processing, things are getting overloaded with too much info and sensory intake and the alarm bells start going off. Listen to them - not in a way that debilitates your life, but like if you can stop or leave, go ahead and do that. I had this fear that if I gave into my anxiety that I'd become a permanent shut-in and be stuck that way, which I think is conventional wisdom for treating normal anxiety. PAWS is a long-term temporary affliction, however, and you're not always going to feel so bad - - when it gets to be too much, dial it back and give yourself rest and space. When you're feeling better, you WILL go out and do all the normal things and you'll think to yourself "see? I'm fine, I'm not afraid of this thing..." You won't lose your freedom, you just have to wait for your brain to come back online :-D