How a singer, a psychologist and an author seek peace despite their struggles.
Sara Bareilles is emerging from a monthslong bout of acute anxiety.
The singer, songwriter and Broadway star has grappled with the condition for years. She had been doing well enough to stop taking Lexapro, an antidepressant, she said. Then a close friend died, and she began to spiral downward.
“The bottom dropped out and I couldn’t find the surface again,” Ms. Bareilles said onstage at the New York Times Well Festival in Brooklyn last week.
Ms. Bareilles was speaking on a panel about living with anxiety, alongside Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. It was moderated by Dan Harris, the host of the “10% Happier” podcast — who, as he told the audience, is perhaps best known for having had a “coke-fueled panic attack on ‘Good Morning America.’”
“If you Google ‘panic attack on television,’ you can see it for yourself,” he said. “It’s the No. 1 result.”
None of the panelists claimed to have conquered anxiety. But they shared some of the strategies that have helped them cope.