No Time to Panic summary

As a journalist, Matt was trained to ask questions – and to keep asking them until he got answers that were more substantive than the typical soundbites. After his suspension, he knew he only had one choice: understand his panic attacks or find a new profession. So, he went to the experts and started asking questions.

Countless physicians and scientists tried reassuring him that panic is just a brain trick, not an innate flaw. While comforting, this explanation rang hollow. Aren’t we an evolved species? Why does this so-called brain trick afflict us? Why do we panic at all? 

By December of 2020, Matt had gone back to work, but he felt the familiar twinges of a panic attack stirring nearly every time he had to go on-air. He was flying back from filing a report on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout when he was overwhelmed by the urge to share the details of his panic disorder with the woman sitting next to him.

As he spoke to her, Matt recalled wondering if she’d judge him. To his surprise, she shared that her own daughter suffered a similar disorder. Matt felt relieved to realize he wasn’t alone. Back home, he began searching for support groups. But while there are all kinds of formal support systems in place for other mental disorders and addictions, like AA and NA, he found no formal support networks for panic disorders.

After months of research and interviewing some of the world’s foremost experts on panic and anxiety, Matt Gutman had a pretty good handle on how panic affected his brain and body. That didn’t mean he wanted to live with his panic attacks forever. He soon learned there was a smorgasbord of “cures” for his condition – though none of them were wholly reliable.

Matt first looked into cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT. Specialist Dr. Michael Telch recommended a two-pronged “sledgehammer” treatment for panic disorder. The first prong entails training patients to recognize panic as a mental distortion, not reality. Triggers like flying or crowds are harmless despite feeling dangerous. This knowledge defuses panic's power over sufferers. The second prong involves gradual exposure to fears like driving or public speaking to systematically desensitize patients. CBT directly confronts anxiety sources through practical techniques rather than analyzing the past psychodynamically.

After years of suffering panic attacks, and a dedicated quest to truly understand panic and anxiety, Matt emerged with six key takeaways.

First, understand that panic attacks are fleeting – the acute danger assessment phase only lasts 15 seconds to a minute. Remind yourself that you can survive the terror, and that your anxiety afterward is manageable. Panic is never as debilitating as it feels.