Episode Summary

Podcast: Tony Mantor: Why Not Me?

Episode: Daniel Packard: His Journey to Ending Anxiety
Date: December 3, 2025
Host: Tony Mantor
Guest: Daniel Packard, Mechanical Engineer, Founder of Permanent Anxiety Solutions

Overview: Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode, Tony Mantor welcomes Daniel Packard, an engineer turned mental health innovator, to discuss Packard’s groundbreaking approach to conquering anxiety and related mental health challenges. Drawing from his own severe struggles and a rigorous research process, Packard explains how he shifted away from mainstream “improvement industrial complex” strategies and instead developed a science-driven, body-based program for lasting results. The episode focuses on challenging prevailing mental health narratives, highlighting the need for root-cause solutions, and providing hope and practical insight for both skeptics and sufferers.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Daniel Packard’s Background and Motivation

• Packard is a UC Berkeley-trained engineer who faced debilitating anxiety and PTSD after personal trauma, despite trying a decade of therapy, self-help, and spiritual practices ([04:17-05:55]).
• His frustration with the lack of permanent solutions led him to “reverse engineer” a system targeting the root cause, inspired by advice from his physicist father that “results matter” ([04:17-05:55]).

“I was skilled, talented, and trained to make machines that get results. The problem is I didn’t know how to make life work.” — Daniel Packard [04:39]

2. Critique of the Mental Health Industry

• Packard brands traditional mental health and personal development as the “improvement industrial complex,” a trillion-dollar industry that manages, but rarely solves, core issues ([02:35-03:30], [04:41-05:55]).
• He sees this as leading people to feel broken and stuck when expensive efforts fail.

3. The Drive for Results and Permanent Solutions

• The key theme is “results matter,” reflected in his program’s promise: 90% success rate and a pay-only-upon-results guarantee ([06:48], [07:23]).

“We only charge you at the end when what you're struggling with…is gone. You pay at the end when it works.” — Daniel Packard [07:23]

4. Engineering Approach to Anxiety (Inner Engineering)

• Eight years and $1 million in research with 3,000 participants led to a standardized online program addressing anxiety, self-doubt, trauma, people-pleasing, and more ([06:20]).
• The methodology relies on process optimization akin to engineering — emphasizing data collection, continuous improvement, and simplicity ([11:59-12:42]).

5. Skepticism and Trust-Building

• Packard acknowledges deep public skepticism, partly due to industry failures and exploitation ([07:54-09:27]).
• His solution: Provide free training (“Pathway to Permanent Results”), and charge only after results are achieved ([09:27-10:57]).
• He empathizes with how skepticism can be internal as well: “There’s not just skepticism about us. There’s skepticism—can they really change?... So it takes real courage to try one more thing one more time.” ([11:02])

6. Root Cause: The Real Problem Is in the Body, Not the Mind

• The program’s main insight is that anxiety and related problems are not “multiple problems of the mind,” but symptoms of fear rooted in the body’s malfunctioning nervous system ([13:04-17:46]).

“We do not have multiple problems of the mind. First of all, we have multiple symptoms of one singular thing, which is fear.” — Daniel Packard [15:44]

• Traditional solutions focus incorrectly on mental or behavioral management, rather than the physical “fear switch” in the nervous system ([16:41-17:46]).

7. Reframing Anxiety as a “Nutrient Issue”

• The nervous system, Packard explains, is like any other bodily system, requiring specific “emotional nutrients.” Most people’s anxiety stems from their nervous system being undernourished in this way ([21:37-23:45]).

“Your anxiety is not a psychological issue, it’s a nutrient issue, which is a huge new way of looking at it.” — Daniel Packard [23:13]

• By learning to supply these nutrients, individuals can ‘reset’ their system so the “fear switch” turns off ([23:45-24:19]).

8. Permanent Change Through the Nervous System Reset

• After completing the program, clients experience lasting resilience: stressors remain, but the body reacts with much lower intensity ([19:41-21:25]).
• Packard offers analogies (weak tooth under pressure = pain, strong tooth = only pressure) to illustrate the effect ([19:41-21:25]).

9. Accessible Help & Continuing Innovation

• Packard’s ongoing work involves optimizing the program based on client psychometric data, speaking on podcasts, and working with schools, prisons, and even governments ([06:48], [11:59], [12:42]).
• He directs listeners to danielpackard.com for a free training sample ([24:26]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This industry, I call it the improvement industrial complex, has a real results issue.” — Daniel Packard [02:51]
• “I was pissed. I kind of looked up to the heavens…‘What’s the test?’ And I got this sort of divine download which reminded me what my dad said—results matter.” — Daniel Packard [05:36]
• “We built this company to solve things…. The one thing that worked was podcasts, because it gives me more time to help people understand—they don’t have to live like this if they don’t want to.” — Daniel Packard [08:30]
• “A mechanic doesn’t charge you unless they can fix your car… But the improvement industrial complex, they just take your money whether they get you a result or not. And I am ethically opposed to that.” — Daniel Packard [10:27]
• “If you really understand something, you should be able to simplify it…Newton took all of motion, got it down to three laws.” — Daniel Packard [13:19]
• “Underneath a lot of what you’re struggling with is fear. It’s coming from the body, it’s linked to the nervous system. You were never taught to give the nervous system proper nutrients… But I want to give your audience hope.” — Daniel Packard [23:45]
• “It takes real courage to try one more thing one more time.” — Daniel Packard [11:47]

Important Timestamps

• Daniel’s personal story & frustration with current mental health solutions – [04:17–05:55]
• Creation of Permanent Anxiety Solutions & engineering approach – [05:58–06:44]
• 90% success rate, 'no change no charge' guarantee – [06:48-07:54]
• Why traditional mental health marketing doesn't work; rise of podcasting as a solution – [07:54–08:53]
• How the program builds trust with skeptics – [09:27–10:57]
• The real root cause: fear in the nervous system, not the mind – [13:04–17:46]
• Resilience and real-world outcomes: the “solid tooth” metaphor – [19:41–21:25]
• Reframing anxiety as a “nutrient issue” in the nervous system – [21:37–24:19]
• Details and invitation to free training – [24:26–25:06]

Takeaways & Final Message

• Mental health struggles are not a sign that you are broken; persistent anxiety and related challenges are likely a function of an undernourished nervous system — not “problems of the mind” as mainstream solutions claim ([17:51], [23:45]).
• Lasting, measurable change is possible by targeting the body’s root cause (the nervous system), not just managing symptoms ([21:37–23:45]).
• Hope and skepticism both welcome: Packard urges listeners to try the free training and “prove it to yourself” rather than relying on belief ([24:26]).

How to Learn More

• Download the free “Pathway to Permanent Results” training, and learn about emotional nutrients for the nervous system at danielpackard.com
  ([24:26])

Tone: Uplifting, direct, compassionate, and grounded in scientific method — blending hope, challenge to mainstream thinking, and the engineer’s drive for evidence and results.