How News Anchor Robin Meade Confronted Her Anxiety and Saved Her Career

Key Points:

• Robin Meade, the host of "Morning Express with Robin Meade," reveals how panic attacks nearly ended her career as a news anchor.
• Therapy and other forms of mental health support helped her manage anxiety and rebuild her confidence.
• Meade is now the longest-running anchor at a national morning TV news program and has authored books about her mental health journey.

Despite her confident and vivacious demeanor on HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade," the host once faced a debilitating struggle with panic attacks that threatened her career.

Meade's first panic attack occurred during a live TV broadcast when she was 26 years old. As a local reporter in Chicago, she was given a script for a breaking news story. However, as she stood in front of the camera, her mind was consumed by the fear of making a mistake.

"I couldn't breathe," Meade recalls. "I refer to it as the thought that ate me."

The panic attacks persisted, occurring every time Meade had a live show. The fear of these attacks not only affected her job but also her identity as a news broadcaster.

Anxiety can significantly impair functioning in various aspects of life, including careers. Dr. Elisabethotn, a psychiatrist at MindPath Care Centers, explains that individuals with anxiety often describe feeling out of control and experiencing catastrophic thinking.

Meade's struggles with anxiety are not unique. As the most common mental health condition in the United States, anxiety affects approximately 40 million adults.

Through therapy and creative techniques like mandala art therapy, Meade has spent the last two decades learning to manage her anxiety and prevent it from interfering with her work. She has since written about her experience in the bestselling book "Morning Sunshine!" and became the longest-running anchor at a national morning TV news program.

In an interview with Verywell Mind, Meade shared insights into her mental health journey.

Verywell Mind: How were you affected by your first panic attack?

Robin Meade: It was demoralizing. I thought I was crazy. Nobody talked about anxiety attacks or panic disorders back then. I was afraid it would happen again, and it did. It would only happen at the start of new shows, not in the rest of my life. But it made me worry about losing my job and my house. My brain went from zero to 60 in seconds.

Verywell Mind: When did you decide to seek help?

Robin Meade: Initially, I resisted seeing a psychologist, but my husband insisted that I talk to his chiropractor, who happened to be an expert in human behavior and had counseled people through anxiety. She helped me identify what was going on. I've been talking with her every three weeks on Sunday mornings for the past 20 years. Therapy can be difficult and painful, but its benefits are directly related to the amount of work put into it.

Verywell Mind: What did therapy teach you about your anxiety?

Robin Meade: My therapist helped me see that I had built my self-image around my job. The panic attacks were about whether I was perfect enough to be a news anchor. I was so busy fulfilling the image others had of the perfect news anchor that I was throwing away authentic parts of myself. I realized that it's the mistakes I make and the authentic qualities about myself that people can identify with.

Verywell Mind: What techniques have you found to be most effective at calming your anxiety?

Robin Meade: Staying in the present helps. Anxiety often stems from worrying about the future, so finding ways to keep your mind in the present moment is crucial. One way to do this is to be grateful. It forces you to look around and think about what you're thankful for right now.

I've also found that drawing mandalas helps me tap into the present moment in a way that meditation couldn't. It quiets my brain and allows me to tune into myself.

Verywell Mind: What advice can you share about balancing pursuing goals and taking care of yourself?

Robin Meade: When you define yourself solely by your career, it becomes your entire life. But there are seven areas of life: spiritual, mental, physical, familial, occupational, financial, and social. You can't be expected to be completely balanced in all of these areas at once. Recognizing that you have different responsibilities and that you're different things at different times, combined with a little forgiveness, goes a long way.

Verywell Mind: What's the top thing you hope people can learn from reading about your mental health journey?

Robin Meade: When you see someone in the public eye, it's easy to imagine that their life is perfect. But it's important to remember that we all have challenges, most of them internal. I want people to know that it's okay to reach out and ask for help, and that they're not alone.