The SelfWork Podcast

Dr. Margaret Robinson Rutherford has been practicing psychology for over 30 years, and she started this podcast in 2016 to make therapy feel less intimidating. It's worked. The show has earned nearly five million downloads and ranks in the top 0.5% of mental health podcasts internationally, with a 4.8 rating from over 1,100 reviews. Her approach is refreshingly practical: episodes run 20 to 40 minutes, and she keeps things casual and focused on what you can actually do about whatever issue she's discussing. Each episode includes a listener question segment where real people write in about their struggles, and Rutherford responds with the kind of direct, thoughtful advice you'd hope to get from a good therapist. She also interviews authors, researchers, and other mental health experts on topics ranging from depression and grief to toxic relationships and self-sabotage. What listeners seem to love most is her genuineness. She doesn't put on a clinical voice or hide behind jargon. She talks like a real person who happens to know a lot about how minds work. The show has been running for nearly a decade with biweekly episodes, so the back catalog of over 530 episodes covers an enormous range of mental health territory. Her book on Perfectly Hidden Depression, which grew partly from podcast discussions, adds another dimension to her work on depression that doesn't look the way people expect.