Dr. Jud on the TODAY show: "Overcome anxiety in 2020"

Overview

In this NBC TODAY show segment, Dr. Jud joined the broadcast team to discuss the anxiety epidemic that was already surging before the onset of the pandemic. The conversation explores why traditional approaches to managing anxiety — like positive thinking, distraction, and willpower — often backfire, and introduces a fundamentally different approach grounded in neuroscience.

Dr. Jud explains that anxiety follows the same habit loop as any other habitual behavior. A trigger (uncertainty, a worrying headline, a stressful thought) leads to a behavior (worry, rumination, avoidance), which provides a short-term reward (a feeling of doing something). Over time, the brain learns to default to anxiety as its go-to coping mechanism. The key to breaking this cycle isn’t fighting the anxiety — it’s bringing mindful curiosity to the experience itself.

The segment highlights Dr. Jud’s research-backed method and the Unwinding Anxiety program, which has helped thousands of people reduce anxiety symptoms by working with the brain’s natural learning systems rather than against them.

Key Takeaways

• Anxiety was already epidemic before the pandemic: Rates of anxiety disorders were climbing steadily, driven by information overload, social media, and chronic stress — the pandemic amplified an existing trend.
• Anxiety is a habit, not just an emotion: Like smoking or overeating, anxiety follows a trigger-behavior-reward loop that strengthens with repetition. Understanding this is the first step to breaking free.
• Mindfulness-based curiosity is the antidote: Dr. Jud’s research shows that getting curious about what anxiety actually feels like — rather than running from it or reasoning with it — helps the brain naturally update its response and reduce anxious behavior.

Watch the full segment on NBC TODAY

Related Resources

• How Anxiety Becomes a Habit — The neuroscience behind the anxiety habit loop
• Unwinding Anxiety — Dr. Jud’s bestselling book and program for breaking anxiety cycles
• Mindfulness Exercises — Practical techniques for building awareness of anxiety patterns
• A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit — Dr. Jud’s TED talk on the same core science