Magical Overthinkers

Amanda Montell -- best known for her books The Age of Magical Overthinking and Cultish -- brings her sharp, curious mind to this biweekly podcast about the anxieties that keep modern brains spinning. Each episode features Amanda in conversation with an expert guest, unpacking trending cultural topics through the lens of overthinking. Recent shows have tackled workaholism, confrontation avoidance, and why we feel guilty about being flaky. The format is conversational and personal. Amanda shares her own stories alongside the research, and her guests tend to be psychologists, authors, and cultural critics who can actually explain why your brain does that thing at 2 a.m. With 48 episodes and a 4.3 rating from over 600 Apple Podcasts listeners, the show has built a loyal following pretty quickly since launching. Some listeners note the ad reads are frequent, but the actual content is consistently insightful. The tone hits a nice sweet spot between intellectually stimulating and genuinely relatable -- like texting with a friend who reads a lot of psychology papers. If you have ever spiraled about whether your personality quirks are normal or concerning, Amanda has probably already made an episode about it.