“No Time to Panic”: TV Journalist Matt Gutman Finds Relief

Panic attacks. Steve Martin and Joan Baez have a history with them. In the fictional realm, the delightful Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), the intense character Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown) on This Is Us, and the acerbic and confident comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) on the series Hacks (Season Four) have all had them. And so has ABC News correspondent, Matt Gutman, whose No Time to Panic: How I Curbed My Anxiety and Conquered a Lifetime of Panic Attacks came out in 2023.

The major turning point for him came when he had an on-air attack that led him to misstate a story about Kobe Bryant‘s accidental death, “a blunder that led to a monthlong suspension, not to mention public shame and personal regret” (per the publisher).

“More than a quarter of all Americans will suffer a panic attack in their lifetime,” states Gutman. “That’s at least 85 million hyperventilating, palpitating people. The sad fact is that the rate of recovery for panic disorder is low, relapse is high, and, shockingly, the severity of disability and dysfunction is higher than that of alcohol dependence. Most of those who suffer from panic have a high baseline of anxiety. We carry around baggage, in other words. For some of us, the baggage is so heavy that the brain considers any added weight of stress a mortal threat. In such cases it pulls the body’s fire alarm: a panic attack.”

Because of his own lack of success with conventional treatments, Gutman turned mainly to alternative therapies, which included shamans, breathwork, psychedelics, and hypnosis. In the process he probed significant trauma.

More on this from the Publishers Weekly review: “…Gutman found ‘everything worked, some things more than others,’ and realized firsthand the value of disclosing the condition to gain ‘psychological relief’ and release shame…Gutman’s up-close dispatches from his ‘circuitous road toward healing’ are self-aware, sharp, and vulnerable.”

Kirkus Reviews: “The author’s condition ultimately improved—not because one psychedelic had helped more than the other, but because all his experiences led to the ’emotional surrender’ that brought him the better inner balance he had been seeking. Both warm and candid, this book is sure to offer helpful doses of hope, humor, and wisdom to anyone suffering from panic disorder.”

Fellow TV journalist Dan Harris‘s review of No Time to Panic: “As somebody who has also suffered from public panic attacks, I found this book both triggering and deeply reassuring. If you’re suffering from panic, you’re not alone, and you’re never out of options. Matt takes you into his mind and then into an intriguing world of potential fixes.”

Incidentally, Harris’s 10 % Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story was updated last year for its tenth anniversary. (See this previous post about the original.)