Yeah fortunately anxiety is one condition where you can become extremely pro-active. There are a thousand and 1 ways you can approach it. Some ways are exercise, diet, alternative medicine, therapy both psychotherapy and others like hypnotherapy.. Accupunture, reflexology, herbal and the list goes on and on...
I would say the best thing to do is experiment and find out what works best for you. You may find a combination of the above will be needed to get you back on track or simply one, everyone responds differently cause quick frankly anxiety can stem from either the body, through amino acid defeciencys, medications, etc or can come directly from our thoughts. In my opinion in most people it is probably a bit of both.
I know you have posted before but I cannot remember at what stage you are in other than what I read above which is panic/anxiety in certain situations.
Let me ask you this, what would you have done if you had not gone with your friends? My guess is you would have sat home and wished you had gone. Then forward to what you did do which is go, and all you got out of it was panic and anxiety. Let me ask you, where is the fun in either scenario? Who wants to live this kind of life?
You need to be proactive in getting your life back and that starts with a doctor who will either prescribe medication that will help you get there and/or cognitive behavioral therapy that will get you there. You cannot just sit around wishing this away, unfortunately it does not work like that. Make the phone call on Monday that could change your entire life for the better.
All my best.
This is a typical panic attack caused by being in open spaces, crowds etc. It can lead to Agoraphobia and you end up housebound due to your fear of having one of these attacks in public. A panic attack is a normal response coming at the wrong time...it's our "fight or flight" response. When we are in danger our body is flooded with extra adrenaline so we can defend ourselves, run, whatever. But with a panic attack it's coming when it's not needed and the extra adrenaline has nothing to work on and a panic attack is just our body responding to it. Our fear feeds this anxiety which results in an attack. There are medications to control these and therapy can help. Learning how not to worry about them and remaining as calm as possible is key. I stopped having panic attacks when I lost my son. I welcomed the next one in hopes it would take me with him. Because I no longer feared it....they just stopped. I just didn't care. But it took something pretty drastic to make me feel this way. But with therapy you may be able to learn how to do this, and if not medication will control them. When one hits you just try to talk yourself down, you know it isn't going to hurt you, it will pass, it's a normal reaction. Exercise is a great way to work off anxiety and when you have an attack if you can walk, exercise, pace, just anything physical to work off the extra adrenaline it will help. The symptoms are real, but harmless and once you can convince yourself of this the better off you will be. Not an easy thing to do because they are so scary, and this is where therapy and/or medication can help. I hope this helps.