If you’ve never experienced an anxiety attack, it’s hard to articulate the sense of fear and dread one can elicit. It wasn’t until earlier this year when I experienced an anxiety attack, did I fully realize how difficult it can be to understand and process.
My guest today is ABC News’ chief national correspondent, Matt Gutman, and author of No Time to Panic: How I Curbed My Anxiety and Conquered a Lifetime of Panic Attacks. We talk about destigmatizing men’s mental health issues, what anxiety truly is and how to curb it when it sneaks up, powerful mindfulness techniques to keep you present in the moment, SSRI’s for the use of anxiety and stress, and riding yourself of the shame that can be a primary driver of anxiety.
Matt Gutman is ABC News’s chief national correspondent and the author of NO TIME TO PANIC: How I Curbed My Anxiety and Conquered a Lifetime of Panic Attacks.
In it, Matt offers an unfiltered look at his mental health struggles behind the scenes while being on-air covering our nation's biggest stories. Most would never have known that Matt often found himself in the throes of a panic attack while watching him—he had carved out a formidable career, reporting from war zones and natural disasters before millions of viewers on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and 20/20.
But in a January 2020 broadcast, mid-panic, Matt misstated the facts of a story, an incident that led to a month-long suspension, public shame and regret for keeping his struggles a secret for too long. This reckoning began a personal journey into the science and treatment of panic attacks.
Since then, Matt has worked with the world’s foremost scholars on anxiety and childhood trauma, who taught him that his perception of panic needed recalibration. He consulted therapists and shamans and tried everything from group treatment and cognitive behavioral therapy to ayahuasca and psilocybin.
Show Highlights
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