Jan 31

Jan 31 Podcasts for Better Mental Wellbeing | January Edit

“Think of it as a chemical reaction to an event or situation. Without trustworthy resources, training, and timing, that chemical reaction can get out of hand—but it can also be controlled and used for valuable good.”

— Wendy Suzuki

Our January Edit of podcasts for better mental wellbeing from Fearne Cotton to an Anxiety Bar. We’ve included some new ways of thinking about how our brain works, some advice for talking to our families about our mental health, and ideas for ‘behavioral antidepressants’. Play on your commute, your morning walk, while making dinner, any moment when you can fold listening into your days.

Featured

Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris | Episode 413: The Science of Depression with Sona Dimidjian

Listen to this fascinating episode with an expert on depression, Dr. Sona Dimidjian, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Here Dr. Dimidjian discusses habits of mind, the skills we can learn to counter the tendency to depression, how mindfulness practices can help us deal with emotions, thoughts and situations, the range of depressive experiences, and “behavioral antidepressants”.

Life Kit: How to Talk to Your Latinx Parents about Mental Health

In this Life Kit episode hosts Isabeth Mendoza and Naydeline Mejia suggest four strategies for talking to Latinx Parents about Mental Health. They cover everything from helping your families make sense of how you’re feeling to giving them the language to understand and a way into supporting you that makes sense to you. They also explain what to do if our families are not receptive. As with all Life Kit episodes, this one comes with actionable advice and signposts additional resources.

Conversations of Inspiration with Holly Tucker MBE | Fearne Cotton

We’ve long been huge supporters of the work that Fearne Cotton is doing around mental wellbeing with her own podcast and brand The Happy Place. In this conversation with Holly Tucker, Fearne talks about approaching her own mental health, building her brand so closely to herself, and how Imposter Syndrome still creeps in. A really interesting conversation between two women who inspire us in how they bring people together and share their own experiences and learnings in order to help others.

The Next Big Idea: Can You Turn Worrying Into a Superpower?

What if anxiety is your superpower? In this episode neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki, author of Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion, talks with Lauren Miller Rogen, filmmaker and co-founder (with her husband Seth Rogen) of the non-profit Hilarity for Charity. Together they discuss how to worry well, joy conditioning, and exercise as a positive “neurochemical bubble bath”. This one is filled with practical advice for when you are anxious.

The Scummy Mummies Podcast | Episode 221 Fashion, Sex and Turning 60 with Karen Arthur

In this episode, hosts comedians Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn talk to educator, fashion creative, and dancer Karen Arthur on her campaign to Wear Your Happy. Here they connect fashion and mental wellbeing, discussing why what we choose to wear can make us feel good and empower others to feel good too. They also cover the connection between the Menopause and anxiety and depression - Arthur also hosts the podcast Menopause Whilst Black. A fun, intimate chat that roams across subjects that matter.

The Cut: Aahh It’s the Anxiety Episode

We are long-time fans of The Cut, so we’re thrilled to find this episode on anxiety. Taking its NY Magazine conversational tone, and headed up by host Molly Fischer, this episode roamed across author Sarah Wilson’s years-long search for equilibrium, artist Jenny Odell’s conscious ways of doing nothing, and comedian’s Aparparna Nancherla’s take on anxiety as like ‘there’s an edgy improv group in your brain and it just needs a one-word suggestion to spin like countless scenarios that no-one’s comfortable with.’ We also loved the concept of the anxiety bar from deputy editor Ruth Spencer (see below and please someone make this exists) and the idea of finding places where you can ride out emotional storms (sound familiar?).

“It’s a bar for people who are internally freaking out, a safe space for stress heads in extremis. It’s a place that allows you to get out of your apartment and stop staring at your own wall…Most crucially the anxiety bar is a place that requires no excuses or explanations. At the anxiety bar everyone already understands… ”

— Molly Fischer

All of our January selections can be found in our Spotify playlist for Mental Wellbeing. Listen here:

Let us know what you’ve been listening to this month to help you deal with anxiety, depression or just feeling that little bit lost.

And seek out more resources for better mental wellbeing in our guide.