Oprah Book Club Pick
No Time to Panic, by ABC’s Chief National Correspondent, Matt Guttman, gives an unflinching look at panic attacks by an award-winning reporter whose career was nearly derailed by them.
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’s at once an inspirational journey and a road map—if not toward a singular cure, then to something even more worthy: peace of mind.
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—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 “punched through” 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 the story, a blunder that led to a monthlong suspension, not to mention public shame and personal regret. It was a reckoning. Gutman’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’s foremost scholars on panic and anxiety, who showed him that his mind wasn’t broken; it’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. And he would take a hard look at the trauma reverberating inside him—from his childhood, but also from his years as a conflict reporter. Matt Gutman contributes regularly to World News Tonight with David Muir, 20/20, Good Morning America, and Nightline. He has reported from fifty countries across the globe and 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.
Dr. John Piacentini will join Mattt Gutman in conversation. Dr. Piacentini is Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute and David Geffen School of Medicine. A board-certified clinical child and adolescent psychologis and founding fellow of the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy and founding fellow of the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy, Dr. Piacentini specializes in the treatment of youth anxiety, OCD and related disorders. He also directs the UCLA Center for Child Anxiety Resilience Education and Support (CARES) Center which provides community-focused education and skills-building to teachers, parents and youth at risk for anxiety and other mental health conditions.