Operating on intuition will be the key. Do not over think things out!

I already practice yoga, although not enough of it lately.

I don't feel panic at all; if anything, the opposite. Some anxiety, though (a life-long problem).

Also, I'm less interested in survival, per se, than I was. I'm drawn more to letting go. I'm tired and I've had my life. From now on it's all re-runs.

I'm not really alluding to suicide. Just an abandonment of the fight. I'm ready to drift.

On the chemical side, have you tried flax seed oil and St. John's Wort? The flax seed oil seems to help balance emotions and St. John's Wort is a mood elevator. I use them both from time to time.

Not unreasonable. The myelin sheath that surrounds and insulates our nerves cells are made of phospholipids that must be regularly replenished. The good oils (Omega 3, 6 i believe) are not found in modern diets. Eat those nuts. Fish oil is even better.

St. John's Wort is a natural Xanax?

Then there is always that magical green bottle from Amsterdam.

I wonder how much of this "feeling" that many are experiencing is due to being, well, let's say blindsided by currents events.
NOT that most here didn't know that these events should and would occur, but that we thought peak oil would be the first publicly admitted force to cause them.

A little green prozac does the trick from time to time.

Criminy, I've tried prozac and other antidepressants. I can't tolerate them at all. They make me feel as though I'm losing (what's left of) my mind. Even more dissociative than the condition being treated.

As for dietary supplements, I've tried many but not found much relief in them, for anything. Most unbiased studies support the ineffectiveness of most supplements.

I love the terminology "antidepressant". They suck, they don't work, they numb your emotions and remove any joy one has left in life.

Try to balance your energies. Perhaps your chakras are misaligned with too much energy in one or the other. So Chakra work could be worthwhile. In a sense yoga, poetry, nature walks do this. Intellectual activity to the exclusion of "soul work" separates mind from body. Yoga is a sort of gland massage, regulating hormonal activity. Tai Chi also stimulates energy body.

Also planets are now in odd constellation. If you are unbalanced it is becasue the planetary energies are catching you unbalanced and exaggerating that. Saturn opposition Uranus.

Along these same lines, I've found that listening to (and/or performing) music -- particularly classical music -- works wonders for balancing my emotional and intellectual moods.

I think that's very well said, Vision guy. That's certainly been my experience with them, although some very seriously clinically depressed people have benefited.

I am just exquisitely sensitive to psychoactive agents.

The ones I do best are booze and benzodiazepines, in moderation.

Paragraph 1 seems like very good advice, although sometimes I tire of the effort of "balancing."

I don't personally believe in planetary influence on human behavior, but I have no objection to others who do.

I like music but have to be careful with it. All my life I've had the ability to hear music in my head as clearly as if it were coming out of a speaker. Once a tune "gets in my head" it can be hard to get out. Sometimes I'm unable to get to sleep because of it.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) tea works for me as a nervine. Have you tried Rhodiola rosea (adaptogenic/antidepressant)? Have you tried setting up an aromatherapy diffuser in your bedroom (for insomnia)?
Of course there are more potent plants available all the way up to poppy seed tea. But I am not an MD or a psychiatrist so I'm not prescribing anything.
Anyone self-medicating with drugs-natural or otherwise-should be well informed. The Experience Vault over on erowid is a good place to start but remember it's all ANECDOTAL.

I appreciate the recommendations for soothing drinks.

I find George Dickel quite effective.

But the answer to anomie is not to be found in a glass, more than very briefly.

Perhaps that is the best I can hope for---brief respites from pain. Perhaps that is enough.