No Time to Panic

By ABC News’s chief national correspondent, an unflinching look at panic attacks by a reporter whose career was nearly derailed by them, offering readers a guide to making a truce with their warring minds

"Brave, reassuring, and practical...A balm for anyone who has ever suffered panic attacks and who longs to be released from their grip." &mdash;Dr. Nicole LePera, #1 <New York Times< bestselling author of <How to Do the Work<

&ldquo;Seamlessly weaves page-turning personal experiences with scientific discoveries&hellip;A tour de force." &mdash;Ethan Kross, bestselling author of <Chatter<

Matt Gutman can tell you the precise moment when his life was upended. Reporting live on a huge story in January 2020, he found himself in the throes of an on-air panic attack&mdash;and not for the first time. The truth is that Gutman had been enduring panic attacks in secret for twenty years: soul-bruising episodes that left his vision constricted, his body damp, his nerves shot. Despite the challenges, 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. His nerves typically &ldquo;punched through&rdquo; to TV audiences, making his appearances kinetic and often unforgettable.

But his January 2020 broadcast was unusual for all the wrong reasons. Mid-panic, Gutman misstated the facts of a story, a blunder that led to a monthlong suspension, not to mention public shame and personal regret.

It was a reckoning. Gutman&rsquo;s panic attacks had become too much for him to bear in secret. He needed help.

So begins a personal journey into the science and treatment of panic attacks. Gutman would talk to the world&rsquo;s foremost scholars on panic and anxiety, who showed him that his mind wasn&rsquo;t broken; it&rsquo;s our perception of panic that needs recalibration. He would consult therapists and shamans, trying everything from group treatment and cognitive behavioral therapy to ayahuasca and psilocybin.&nbsp;And he would take a hard look at the trauma reverberating inside him&mdash;from his childhood, but also from his years as a conflict reporter.

Unsparing, perceptive, and often funny, this is the story of a panic sufferer who took on the monster within. Filled with wisdom and actionable insights, it&rsquo;s at once an inspirational journey and a road map&mdash;if not toward a singular cure, then to something even more worthy: peace of mind....

Auteur

MATT GUTMAN is ABC News’ Emmy Award–winning chief national correspondent. He appears regularly on World News Tonight with David Muir, 20/20, Good Morning America, and Nightline and has reported from more than fifty countries across the globe. He is the author of The Boys in the Cave: Deep Inside the Impossible Rescue in Thailand. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.