Finding The Best Anxiety Podcast To Relieve Stress And Anxiety

While it’s considered normal to experience occasional anxiety from time to time, high, persistent levels of it can negatively impact your physical, mental, and emotional health and may be a sign of an anxiety disorder or other mental health condition. Anxiety disorders are some of the most common mental illnesses today, affecting almost 20% of the population. Though they’re considered to be highly treatable in general, only 36.9% of people will receive treatment—likely because of stigma, accessibility, and a lack of information.

If left unaddressed, anxiety symptoms may get worse over time and can interfere with your daily life, responsibilities, and relationships. It’s typically recommended that you seek professional evaluation and support if you’re experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition like anxiety. However, there are also various tactics you can try to help reduce symptoms in conjunction with the treatment methods your doctor or therapist recommends.

Here are some anxiety podcasts you might be interested in exploring.

Choosing A Podcast For Anxiety

Some anxiety podcasters are licensed therapists, while others are life coaches or content creators in this field. Many offer suggestions on anxiety coping techniques, while others focus on interviewing people who have experienced mental illnesses so they can share their personal tips and stories. Some podcasts specialize in discussing specific anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder or social anxiety disorder, while others are broader and more general. Reading the podcast description and reviews and viewing the podcast host’s credentials may help you find the right podcast for you. You might also ask your therapist or friends and family for their recommendations. If you listen to an episode or two and don’t find it helpful, you can always try another.

12 Podcasts To Help You Cope With Anxiety

Below, we’ve highlighted a dozen podcasts that cover anxiety-related topics—from educational material and exercises to discussions on various anxiety disorders and real-life stories from those who live with them. See below for the title and a brief description of each. You can generally find them for free wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, the Apple Podcast app, etc.

1. The Calmer You

Hosted by hypnotherapist, anxiety coach, and author Chloe Brotheridge, The Calmer You podcast provides advice on overcoming anxiety, building resilience, and becoming more mindful in your daily life. The podcast covers a wide range of topics for a broad audience, from new parents who are experiencing anxiety to those who fear public speaking, are experiencing work burnout, or who have co-occurring conditions like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

2. Yeah No, I’m Not Okay

Made in collaboration with LAist Studios and Diane Guerrero, Yeah No, I’m Not Okay was created for BIPOC communities—who tend to be disproportionately affected by mental health challenges due to their lived experiences in today’s world. This podcast’s mission is to remove the stigma around mental health concerns and create a safe place for people of color to openly discuss mental health.

3. Anxiety Slayer

This podcast, hosted by Shann Vander Leek and Ananga Sivyer, provides tools and strategies to help those living with chronic stress, anxiety, PTSD, and/or panic attacks. The Anxiety Slayer’s content focuses on conversations and interviews with psychology experts as well as reviews of practical strategies that those experiencing anxiety symptoms can use in everyday life, such as meditation, breathwork, and relaxation techniques.

4. Your Anxiety Toolkit

Hosted by marriage and family therapist Kimberley Quinlan, Your Anxiety Toolkit is a podcast that provides strategies for managing symptoms of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, and panic disorder. The episodes focus on sharing both information and science-based strategies for coping with the effects of these mental health concerns.

5. Social Anxiety Solutions

If you’re living with social anxiety, Social Anxiety Solutions may be able to help you navigate your symptoms and find healthy ways to cope with or even overcome them. This podcast is hosted by Sebastiaan van der Schrier, a social confidence coach who formerly lived with social anxiety and interviews psychologists and therapists on their suggestions for building self-confidence and decreasing symptoms of this type of disorder.

6. Getting Better: Stories Of Mental Health

BetterHelp's own podcast, Getting Better, is hosted by licensed therapists Micheline Maalouf and Nadia Addesi. It features interviews with well-known guests about their mental health journeys, including Ian Somerhalder, Chris Bosh, and Meghan Trainor. Listeners can take both inspiration and advice from these personal stories.

7. Celeste The Therapist

The Celeste the Therapist podcast is hosted by Celeste Viciere, therapist and author. Her show focuses on breaking stigmas about mental health, particularly in BIPOC communities, and she shares advice for learning how to break the cycle of negative thought patterns that can lead to and/or exacerbate symptoms of mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.

8. The Anxiety Guy

The Anxiety Guy podcast is hosted by former tennis player Dennis Simsek, who was diagnosed with panic disorder and was able to address it through exposure therapy. In this podcast, Simsek explores anxiety and other mental health conditions and how they can impact one’s life. He shares his own experience with mental illness and provides advice for overcoming or coping with symptoms of stress and anxiety.

9. Meditation Minis

For those times when you’re busy but need a moment of peace and relaxation, the Meditation Minis podcast may be able to help. These guided meditations average around 10 minutes long and each one has a different focus, from handling stress to coping with depression to unwinding in the evenings. It’s currently in the top 0.05% of downloaded podcasts, suggesting that many people around the world may find it useful and effective.

10. The Mindful Minute

The Mindful Minute podcast is hosted by Meryl Arnett, whose mission is to make meditation and mindfulness practices accessible to more people. Each episode consists of a brief meditation that anyone can do without prior experience or training in the hopes that a broader audience of individuals will be able to benefit from incorporating this practice into their daily routines.

11. Thrive Spice

The Thrive Spice podcast is hosted by Vanessa Tsang Shiliwala, who interviews activists, political leaders, and entrepreneurs to learn about how they set boundaries, find balance, and safeguard their mental health. She specializes in addressing topics that relate to the mental health of Asian Americans in particular and covers themes such as coping mechanisms for anxiety, handling burnout, work-life balance, neurodiversity, and self-care.

12. The Anxiety Coaches

The Anxiety Coaches podcast, which has had over 13 million downloads, is hosted by nutritionist and coach Gina Ryan. As someone who formerly experienced anxiety herself, Ryan intends to provide relaxing, informative, and empowering conversations that explore anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorders, and stress. Each episode provides practical advice on lifestyle changes that may help improve well-being and mental health.

When To See A Therapist For Anxiety

In general, if you believe that you may be experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition like an anxiety disorder, it’s typically recommended that you meet with a qualified healthcare professional for evaluation and treatment advice—especially if your symptoms are severe and/or interfering with your daily functioning. While a podcast may be able to provide helpful tips and strategies for managing stress and anxiety, it’s not a replacement for professional therapy. 

If you’re ready to meet with a therapist, you can typically choose between in-person or online appointments. Research suggests that online cognitive behavioral therapy in particular—the most common type of therapy practiced today—can result in a “significant decrease” in symptoms of anxiety and depression. That means those who are interested in seeking the support of a therapist for anxiety can usually choose between in-person or online treatment according to their preferences. Individuals who find it difficult to travel to and from appointments or who simply prefer to connect with a therapist from the comfort of home might consider a virtual therapy platform like BetterHelp, where you can get matched with a licensed therapist who you can meet with via phone, video call, and/or in-app messaging.