[Coda]

Ignoring it or fixing it is actually an appropriate response. Anxiety attacks are, by definition, irrational. The concerns that led to the attack may or may not be irrational themselves, but the self-reinforcing spiral of anxiety is entirely psychological. The goal of the management techniques is to clear the unwanted thoughts from your head; if you're able to make yourself ignore the problem and do something else, then you have SUCCEEDED in combating the attack.

In fact, trying to push through the attack to fix the problem that triggered it is usually counterproductive. Unless there's some critical time pressure that says you CAN'T let it wait, it's almost always better to set the anxiety-causing issue aside for an hour or two in order to let yourself recover. Schedule a time for you to return to the task so you don't put it off forever, but having your schedule in mind before you get started will help to alleviate some of the anxiety, because you can tell yourself that you have it under control.