10 Mental Health Podcasts to Help You Fight Burnout
Whether it’s work, caring, emotional overload, or just trying to keep up with the pace of life, sometimes we all hit a wall. Luckily, there are podcasts out there that can offer real help—not just quick fixes, but the tools, insight, and compassion you need to restore, recharge, and protect your mental health.
Here are 10 podcasts I turn to when I need to go from feeling overwhelmed to just feeling overwhelmed.
Mental Health Rewritten
A constant cycle of shame can be one of the many causes of burnout, especially social burnout. InMental Health Rewritten, Dominique Lawson does a great job of crafting a coherent, scientific narrative to help you combat shame with empathy, especially when that shame stems from elements of identity like race and gender. This season of the show hopes to help you rewrite your internal and external dialogues about sex, suicide, and cultural identity, from desire to dysfunction. At the very least, it might make you feel less alone and more heard.
10% happier
The prospect of living a mindful life can be daunting, but on10% Happier, Dan Harris makes it accessible. With a focus on meditation, neuroscience, and emotional balance, the show is a powerful antidote to burnout. Harris, who became interested in the topic after experiencing his own panic attacks on air, interviews a wide range of experts, mixing science with personal experience. He’s a skeptical, funny, and refreshingly honest host, sharing his own struggles with anxiety, stress, and burnout, giving the show a completely relatable, accessible feel. (We can all make small changes, right?)
Therapy for black girls
OnTherapy for Black Girls, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford offers accessible, culturally sensitive conversations about mental health, boundaries, and overcoming burnout, primarily aimed at black women, but her advice resonates with everyone. She interviews experts on topics like people-pleasing, toxic workplaces, and self-care strategies. This show will both inform you and make you feel cared for.
Laboratory of happiness
The Happiness Lab , hosted by Yale psychology professor Dr. Laurie Santos, is a science-backed, myth-busting deep dive into what really makes us happy, and how modern life often sets us up to burn out instead. The show is directly based on Dr. Santos’s wildly popular Yale course, The Science of Well-Being, which has helped millions of people rethink their approach to stress, work, and everyday life. Dr. Santos combines storytelling with cutting-edge research to tackle issues like toxic productivity, perfectionism, emotional exhaustion, and how our brains often trick us into burning out rather than preventing it.
It’s all happening to Kate Bowler
InEverything Happens, Kate Bowler brings heartfelt honesty to difficult conversations about how to survive life’s most challenging times, offering perspective and grace to those who feel overwhelmed or exhausted. A historian who recently faced her own cancer diagnosis, Bowler excels at exploring the intersections of grief, loss, and resilience.
WorkLife with Adam Grant
OnWorkLife, organisational psychologist Adam Grant dives into what we can do to make work better and less draining. His episodes on toxic workplaces, resilience and staying productive without burning out are a must-listen. His expertise helps listeners rethink work culture and personal habits, and not many people can combine academic research with engaging storytelling like Adam.
The Ezra Klein Show
WhileThe Ezra Klein Show isn’t exclusively about burnout, many of his insightful interviews delve into the cultural, economic, and psychological forces that drive modern exhaustion. Ezra interviews leading thinkers, from psychologists to sociologists to economists, who help listeners understand not only how burnout happens, but why our systems often make it inevitable. As host, Ezra asks thoughtful, compassionate questions that get to the heart of work culture, attention deficits, leisure, and the pressures of modern life.
We can do complex things
OnWe Can Do Hard Things, Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle have honest conversations about boundaries, feeling overwhelmed, and managing emotional labor. With vulnerability and humor, the three share their own struggles and insecurities, making the show a safe space. Topics range from coping with parental burnout to navigating debilitating relationship dynamics.
Feminist Survival Project
Based on their best-selling book Burnout , onThe Feminist Survival Project , sisters Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski offer science-based strategies for women coping with chronic stress. (Don’t miss “Polyvagal 101,” on how your nervous system might be failing you.) If you’re neurodivergent and looking for a podcast that acknowledges the depletion of living in systems not designed for human beings to thrive, this is especially helpful; Emily is on the autism spectrum and speaks openly about her experience with ADHD. It’s a more academic show than others on the list, but it’s also, oddly enough, the funniest.
Podcast “Blind Boy”
The Blindboy Podcast , hosted by Blindboy of the Rubberbandits, isn’t about stress, but Blindboy’s gentle conversations and openness make the show feel like a big hug when you’re stressed. Through a mix of cultural commentary, history, observation, and magical storytelling, Blindboy manages to normalize the therapy process and the experience of being autistic. In loose episodes covering everything from Irish and Greek mythology to what’s inside a tennis ball and a discussion with the late Sinead O’Connor, he helps listeners learn something they might need to hear about the world and themselves.