ABC News’ Dan Harris revealed that meditation helped him overcome panic spurred by drug use and the psychological effects of covering war.
"Nightline" co-host Dan Harris is breaking news of the very personal kind—revealing that cocaine and Ecstasy use drove him to a highly embarrassing on-air panic attack in 2004.
The TV journalism veteran came clean Tuesday about the abrupt meltdown in front of 5 million viewers as a fill-in news anchor on "Good Morning America," when then-hosts Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson turned the cameras over to Harris for the start of the 7 a.m. newscast.
"I was overtaken by a massive, irresistible blast of fear," Harris, 42, wrote on the ABC News blog early Tuesday, "It felt like the world was ending. My heart was thumping. I was gasping for air. I had pretty much lost the ability to speak.
"And all of it was compounded by the knowledge that my freak-out was being broadcast live on national television."
Harris says his drug use began a year earlier after a six-year tour of duty covering wars in Afghanistan, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Iraq.
"I became depressed. In an act of towering stupidity, I began to self-medicate," says Harris, who is still a weekend correspondent on "GMA."
Shortly after the career-endangering episode, Harris' boss and mentor, Peter Jennings, assigned him the religion beat. While covering all aspects of faith for ABC News, including his famous interview with disgraced former pastor Ted Haggard, Harris stumbled on meditation as the Rx for his personal problems.
Insisting that he still has "an allergy to all things touchy-feely and New Age-y," Harris credits the relaxation techniques with turning his life around.
Harris' admission comes three months after fellow ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas' own revelation that she's battling alcoholism. Vargas entered rehab last fall.
"Am I worried about what kind of reaction people will have to my getting personal in this way?," wrote Harris. " Absolutely.
"At the very least, it'll be a good test of my meditation practice."
About Dan Harris’ new book 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, now in paperback
Nightline anchor Dan Harris embarks on an unexpected, hilarious, and deeply skeptical odyssey through the strange worlds of spirituality and self-help, and discovers a way to get happier that is truly achievable.
After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure, involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had both propelled him through the ranks of a hyper-competitive business and also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out.
We all have a voice in our head. It’s what has us losing our temper unnecessarily, checking our email compulsively, eating when we’re not hungry, and fixating on the past and the future at the expense of the present. Most of us would assume we’re stuck with this voice – that there’s nothing we can do to rein it in – but Harris stumbled upon an effective way to do just that. It’s a far cry from the miracle cures peddled by the self-help swamis he met; instead, it’s something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation. After learning about research that suggests meditation can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain, Harris took a deep dive into the underreported world of CEOs, scientists, and even marines who are now using it for increased calm, focus, and happiness.
10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene, and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives.
DAN HARRIS BIO
Dan Harris is a correspondent for ABC News and the co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America. Before that, he was the anchor of the Sunday edition of World News. He regularly contributes stories for such shows as Nightline, 20/20, World News with Diane Sawyer and GMA. Harris has reported from all over the planet, covering wars in Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine and Iraq, and producing investigative reports in Haiti, Cambodia, and the Congo. He has also spent many years covering America's faith scene, with a focus on evangelicals -- who have treated him kindly despite the fact that he is openly agnostic. He has been at ABC News for 13 years. Before that, he was in local news in Boston and Maine. He grew up outside of Boston and currently lives with his wife, Bianca, in New York City.