On Feb. 8, Dr. Benjamin Habib froze on live TV during a morning news segment on ABC24 News Breakfast in Australia. It was the result of an anxiety attack. Habib has appeared on TV previously, and was there to discuss North Korea, a subject with which he is quite familiar.
Here's the incident in question:
Instead of recoiling from the moment, Habib chose to use the experience as an opportunity to show others what it's like to be impacted by an anxiety attack. Here's his account of the ordeal, from his blog:
In doing the News Breakfast interview I inadvertently thrust my life-long battle with severe anxiety into the public domain. The moment I accepted the interview invitation on Sunday afternoon I started experiencing a steadily growing anxiousness that peaked as Michael Rowland threw to me in the ABC studio. I watched an NBA basketball game on TV on Sunday night but I couldn’t tell you a single detail about the game. Rather than go to sleep as PM ticked over to AM, I became increasingly wired as I ruminated endlessly on what I would say in the interview, what I would wear and how I would get to the ABC studio in Southbank in the early morning, among other things. As an introverted personality type I have a richer inner world but with an early start and an appearance on national TV looming my brain slipped into a state of hyper-arousal. I did not sleep a single minute before I jumped on the train to the city on Monday morning.
At this point, Dr. Habib explains getting to the studio and starting to feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable as he got ready to go live. Even though he was an expert on the material, he described the feeling as his "skin began to vibrate as if being shocked with a mild electric current." He describes what happens when the cameras fixed on him:
Michael Rowland introduced me and then threw to me with his first question. I have no memory of his actual question, my mind all of the sudden swimming in a haze. As I realized that seconds were ticking away without me forming a coherent answer, the physical anxiety reactions intensified. I babbled and stumbled, my carefully prepared comments slipping away from my conscious awareness. Michael and Virginia, seeing that I was struggling, asked prompting questions in an effort to change tack and help me out of the hole. I very much appreciated their efforts to shepherd me through the interview, but it was to no avail. With every question they asked I struggled even more as my anxiety symptoms took complete command of my body and mind. Finally I gave in and said “I can’t do this,” and Michael and the editors quickly threw to the next story.
I was in complete shock. I have never before experienced such an intense anxiety reaction, even as someone with a long history with social anxieties. I was grateful at this point to Virginia, grabbed my arm as soon as the live feed cut and said “don’t worry, it’s OK.” I was then led out of the studio room by one of the tech guys, who was also kind and supportive, as were the staff in the editing room. I was then led back out into the lobby and offered a coffee in the cafeteria, but I felt so terrible that I fled the building directly.
At that point I was absolutely devastated. All I wanted to do was crawl into a hole away from human contact, but instead I boarded a train packed with morning peak hour commuters. After returning home I spent the remainder of the day shaken and upset, shunning any form of electronic media. Eventually my anxiety symptoms subsided enough that I managed an hour or two of disturbed sleep.
Despite a few trolls on social media, Habib said he received overwhelming support following the episode:
We all know that social media is notorious for picking up on public gaffes and misfortunes. Not surprisingly I received a few poisonous barbs from trolls on Twitter who seemed to glory in my misfortune. Their unintentionally amusing tweets gave me something to laugh about as I faced the world again.
A few Twitter scum notwithstanding, I received an overwhelming number of supportive messages from friends and family, colleagues from around the country and even regular ABC viewers. A special thank you goes out to the ABC News Breakfast team, who were kind and understanding in the wake of my melt down. I was touched by every one of those messages and greatly appreciated those gestures of kindness.
For the most part, it sounds like he's been able to take a meltdown everyone saw in the media and leverage it as a positive experience. Perhaps he could give a few tips to Kanye West, who has been having a banner year with Twitter meltdowns.
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