Topics / Anxiety & Stress
Anxiety & Stress Podcasts
325 shows and 43,206 episodes sit under Anxiety & Stress.
The best anxiety and stress podcasts in 2026: CBT and acceptance-based recovery, real-time panic tools, guided meditation sessions
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A field guide
What Anxiety & Stress podcasts actually cover
The best anxiety podcasts slow an explanation down until a racing heart or an intrusive thought makes sense, then ask the listener to do something with it. The weaker ones hand over one more technique to try and one more sensation to monitor. In April 2024, Caroline Crampton wrote in TIME that wellness podcasts were part of an information-seeking spiral she believed worsened her health anxiety. In August 2026, an r/podcasts discussion recommended both anxiety education and sleep-oriented companionship.
The current arguments sit between those two positions. One is about when soothing turns into avoidance. The other is about how much nervous-system vocabulary a show can use before it starts to sound like a sales pitch. This page sorts the shows by what they offer your listening time and notes where each host's claims come from.
Clinicians who argue with the internet
Drew Linsalata, the therapist behind The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast, mentions his own years of panic disorder and agoraphobia. He then calls that history "the least important of my qualifications." In Mental Health Misinformation: Why is Online Anxiety "Science" So Confusing? | EP 334, the conversation turns on a book category "riddled with vagus nerve books." It asks whether listeners have learned to handle their internal states or simply believe they have toned a nerve. The practical episodes are gentler. Driving Anxiety and Driving Exposure | EP 315 insists: "It is 100% a useful driving exposure to sit in your driveway, not even turn the car on."
Linsalata also co-hosts Disordered: Anxiety Help with Joshua Fletcher. Self-Soothing When Anxiety Appears? (Episode 102) draws the line between comfort and control with a onesie and a hot drink after the day's exposures are finished: "That's not control." Using soothing to escape an exposure while it is happening is a different matter.
Your Anxiety Toolkit - Practical Skills for Anxiety, Panic & Depression, hosted by Kimberley Quinlan, covers OCD. Ep. 85: Harm OCD with Jon Hershfield offers a line worth keeping: "accepting an urge is actually the opposite of following through with it."
Wellness traditions and coaching
Other hosts draw on different traditions, and their claims should be weighed as claims. Anxiety Slayer™ with Shann and Ananga brings in Ayurveda. In How to Calm Anxiety in the Summer Heat, the hosts teach satali, a breath they describe as cooling that requires curling the tongue into a tube. They admit not everyone can do it and offer an alternative. Body Whispering For Anxiety Relief with Dr. Dain Heer is looser. The guest's share of anxious people who are highly sensitive slides from over 90% to "somewhere in the 99% range" in one breath. Hear that as one guest's belief system.
The Anxiety Guy Podcast rests on Dennis Simsek's story as a former professional tennis player diagnosed with panic disorder. In TAGP 177: The Right And Wrong Way To Cure Anxiety (Powerful Interview), he traces anxiety to the years between conception and five, reached through "altered state work." Near the end, the show promotes a programme and coaching sessions. That promotional relationship belongs beside his testimony.
The Calmer You Podcast, from hypnotherapist Chloe Brotheridge, holds its own debate. Ep 236. Regulating the Nervous System with Michelle Grosser treats regulation as the goal. In Ep 230. Anxiety, therapy and dealing with 'What ifs' with Joshua Fletcher, Brotheridge says the two of them teach differently, and the conversation doubts that anyone can force the shift between stress and rest.
One fear, one family, one faith
Narrowing the subject sharpens these shows. Lovefly is about fear of flying. In Ep. 261 - Frank Sanders lots of flights despite his fear of flying (update episode), Frank loves booking trips and dreads the call to board. He describes his fear dropping "from a 10 to an 8 or even a 7" once the wheels leave the ground. An unfinished account like that is more useful than a triumph.
AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety is for parents. In An Important Difference Between Anxiety vs OCD Reassurance, child OCD and anxiety therapist Natasha Daniels warns that reassurance built on a parent's presence can produce a "Velcro kid." One recent episode is sponsored by NoCD, and another features a NoCD clinician discussing the company's own study. Keep that in mind alongside the enthusiasm.
Faith Over Fear, hosted by Jennifer Slattery, speaks to Christian listeners. Managing Anxiety with Christ and Practical Tools names the lie that stronger faith would end the struggle. It then pairs progressive muscle relaxation with awareness of God's presence. Where old relationships feed the anxiety, the Narcissistic Abuse Recovery and Trauma & Recovery pages sit nearby.
Audio to settle into
Calming Anxiety | Guided Meditation, Sleep Hypnosis & Panic Attack Relief asks you to repeat here, not to follow an argument. The 10-Minute Nervous System Reset NSDR for Subconscious Calm labels its affirmations with frameworks, such as "My nervous system is calm and regulated, polyvagal theory healing." That is the same theory The Anxious Truth spends an episode questioning. The Mindfulness & Meditation page sits nearby. The Mental Health guide and the Health & Fitness category guide map the wider field.
Where to start
Tired of quick fixes: The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast, Mental Health Misinformation: Why is Online Anxiety "Science" So Confusing? | EP 334. It is a sceptic's tour of online advice.
Raising a worried child: AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety, An Important Difference Between Anxiety vs OCD Reassurance. It gives one distinction you can use at bedtime.
Dreading a flight: Lovefly, Ep. 261 - Frank Sanders lots of flights despite his fear of flying (update episode). It is an honest progress report.
Living with intrusive thoughts: Your Anxiety Toolkit - Practical Skills for Anxiety, Panic & Depression, Ep. 85: Harm OCD with Jon Hershfield.
Pick the one that matches today's question; the others will keep.
Featured shows below are part of the PlayNext catalog. Updated weekly.
Featured shows
11 shows, described rather than listed
Each one comes with a short write-up and the role it plays in this guide.
Acceptance-based recovery for panic disorder and anxiety. Drew Linsalata walks through the why behind exposure, avoidance, and reassurance-seeking.
Practical CBT and ACT tools for anxiety, panic, and depression. Kimberley Quinlan covers anticipatory anxiety, GAD, and real-time panic resources.
Anxiety-disorder recovery with an OCD-aware lens. Covers sneaky compulsions, sensitised states, and the compassionate-mind approach.
Recovery-arc podcast covering physical symptoms, emotional traps, and the messy middle. Dennis Simsek addresses morning anxiety, health anxiety, and burnout alongside clinical episodes.
Two-host show that normalises anxiety across a wide emotional register. Covers high-functioning anxiety, health anxiety spirals, and alcohol's role in the anxiety cycle.
Focused on where common recovery efforts go wrong. Recent episodes address why years of talk therapy leave anxiety intact and how to reorient.
Real-time panic rescue episodes alongside broader daily-life anxiety coverage. Caroline Foran addresses workplace anxiety, financial anxiety, and high-functioning anxiety.
Listening-as-practice show with EFT tapping, bodywork, and somatic techniques. Designed to use in the moment alongside cognitive recovery work.
Short guided meditation and hypnosis sessions for anxiety and panic relief. Ten-to-fifteen-minute episodes designed for in-the-moment use.
ERP-focused show covering where exposure-and-response-prevention breaks down in practice. Matt Codde addresses relationship OCD, ERP hierarchy failures, and diagnosis-beyond-destiny framing.
Dedicated resource for parents navigating a child's OCD or anxiety diagnosis. Covers school avoidance, OCD vs anxiety reassurance differences, and ERP for younger patients.
Where to start
5 routes in, one per reader
The acceptance series (episodes 309–310) is a direct, non-reassuring entry into exposure-and-acceptance-based recovery.
The bonus episode on unexpected panic attacks functions as a real-time resource, not just background listening.
Episodes on dizziness and morning anxiety spikes explain the physiology plainly, without requiring prior familiarity with CBT terminology.
EFT tapping and somatic-practice episodes designed to be used eyes-open or eyes-closed during an anxious moment.
The only show on this slate dedicated to the parenting side of childhood OCD and anxiety, including school avoidance and treatment navigation.
Glossary
Speak the language
A CBT technique for anxiety and OCD in which the person deliberately faces anxiety-provoking situations (exposure) while resisting the urge to perform compulsions or seek reassurance (response prevention). The gold-standard treatment for OCD; also used for panic disorder and other anxiety disorders.
A form of CBT that emphasises accepting anxiety rather than eliminating it, and committing to value-driven behaviour despite its presence. Underpins shows like The Anxious Truth and Your Anxiety Toolkit.
Anxiety about a feared event before it occurs — often more intense than the event itself. A driver of avoidance and a common topic in skills-based anxiety podcasts.
Emotional freedom technique — a somatic practice of tapping acupressure points while focusing on a distressing thought or sensation. Used as an in-the-moment anxiety regulation tool; covered in depth by Anxiety Slayer™.
Informal term for anxiety that coexists with outward high performance — the person appears productive or capable while internally struggling. Not a clinical diagnosis but a frequently discussed experience on general-audience anxiety shows.
A heightened baseline arousal level in which the nervous system responds to minor triggers with disproportionate anxiety. Often discussed in the context of why anxiety symptoms persist after the original stressor resolves.