A chapter in McCullar’s life was marked by rapid changes – panic attacks that made him ill. “I was throwing up every day,” Mr. McCullar said.

In 2001, the company he worked for went bankrupt. He lost his job. He left his hometown. He moved over 1,000 miles (1,600km) away, from Detroit, Michigan, to southern Florida.

He was searching for new beginnings but found panic and anxiety. A few years later, Mr. McCullar suffered a debilitating back injury. He then returned home where he witnessed his parents going through a divorce. Depression followed.

“It just felt like everything was happening all at once,” Mr. McCullar said. “I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was thinking maybe I have cancer.”

But where gastroenterologists, anti-nausea pills and indigestion drugs failed to make a difference, a podcast about “brain training” and its effects on mental health offered him hope. “My anxiety had dropped by 50% in one day,” he said.

He returned to Michigan inspired and wanting to help others who were struggling like he had. In 2018, he launched Inception, the first mental health gym in the state and one of the first in the country… and have no physical fitness element at all. (…)

(Adapted from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64042267)