The 10 Best Podcasts For Anxiety (2026)
Anxiety is exhausting and isolating and also annoyingly common, which at least means you're not alone in it. These shows get that. Therapists who explain what's actually happening in your brain when everything feels like too much. People who've been in the thick of it sharing what helped and what absolutely didn't. Practical tools you can actually use - not just vague advice about breathing deeply, though some breathing exercises genuinely work when you give them a real shot. Calming voices for panic moments. Longer conversations for when you need to feel understood. No judgment here, just honest help from people who truly get it.
The Anxiety Coaches Podcast
Gina Ryan has been quietly building one of the most prolific anxiety podcasts around, with over 1,200 episodes and counting. That kind of consistency since 2014 is remarkable in the podcasting world, and the 4.6-star rating from nearly 1,750 reviewers shows the audience is sticking around for a reason.
New episodes drop twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays, and most run between 14 and 22 minutes. That shorter format is actually one of the show's strengths. When you're in the middle of an anxiety spike, a 90-minute episode can feel overwhelming. Gina's bite-sized episodes are manageable enough to listen to during a walk or a lunch break.
The tone here is deliberately calming and warm, almost meditative at times. Gina covers lifestyle changes that help settle the nervous system, incorporates guided meditations into some episodes, and talks about stress management, PTSD recovery, and healthy living practices. There's a spiritual dimension to the show as well, which won't appeal to everyone but feels organic rather than preachy.
Gina mixes solo teaching episodes with guest conversations, though she clearly carries the show herself most of the time. The back catalog is genuinely massive, so if you find a topic that resonates, there are probably a dozen related episodes to explore. For people who want a gentle, steady companion for their anxiety recovery rather than something intense or clinical, this fits the bill perfectly. A premium subscription at $5/month removes ads if you become a regular listener.
Anxiety Slayer with Shann and Ananga
Shann and Ananga hand you practical tools for managing anxiety and keep the episodes short enough that you can actually listen when you're mid-spiral. That's smart design. Breathing techniques, mindfulness exercises, reframing strategies - concrete stuff you can try immediately rather than abstract theories about wellness. The tone is warm without being patronizing. They clearly know this territory from personal experience, not just research. New episodes drop frequently enough to build a real toolbox over time. If anxiety is part of your daily landscape, this is a useful, calm companion.
Anxiety
Hosted by people who actually live with anxiety rather than experts observing it from the outside. That distinction matters. The conversations are honest about what anxiety really feels like - the spiraling, the physical symptoms, the way it hijacks perfectly normal days. Not clinical, not preachy. Just real talk about a thing that millions of people deal with quietly. Some episodes focus on coping strategies, others just validate that you're not alone in this. If your brain likes to catastrophize at 3 AM, someone here understands.
The Anxiety Guy Podcast
Dennis Simsek spent six years as a professional tennis player while battling panic disorder and health anxiety before finding his way to recovery. That backstory gives him an unusual credibility as an anxiety podcast host. He's not a therapist telling you what the research says; he's someone who clawed his way out of a deeply anxious period and built a career helping others do the same.
The show has amassed over 530 episodes and holds a strong 4.8-star rating from more than 1,400 reviewers. The format is primarily solo, with Dennis delivering focused episodes on specific anxiety topics. Most episodes land in the 14-20 minute range, making them easy to fit into a commute or a quick break.
Dennis covers generalized anxiety disorder, hypochondria, health anxiety, and depression with a practical, no-nonsense delivery. Recent episodes have tackled overthinking with specific techniques rather than abstract advice. His style is direct and motivational without being pushy. He's clearly done this enough times to know exactly where anxious listeners get stuck and what specific reframes tend to help.
The shorter episode length is actually a deliberate choice that works in the show's favor. When you're dealing with anxiety, a 15-minute episode with one clear takeaway is often more useful than a sprawling hour-long discussion. Dennis packs each episode tight with actionable content. The massive archive means you can search for your specific anxiety flavor, whether it's health anxiety, social situations, or panic attacks, and find multiple episodes dedicated to it.
Your Anxiety Toolkit
Kimberley Quinlan is a licensed therapist who has spent over 15 years specializing in OCD and anxiety, and her podcast reflects that depth of clinical experience. With 428 episodes and counting, Your Anxiety Toolkit delivers weekly episodes packed with evidence-based strategies for managing OCD, panic disorder, social anxiety, health anxiety, and depression. The New York Times named it one of their "6 Podcasts to Soothe An Anxious Mind" in 2024, which says a lot about its reach beyond just the OCD community. Kimberley has a warm, direct teaching style. She breaks down clinical concepts like ERP, self-compassion practices, and cognitive defusion into steps you can actually use during your week. Episodes run 15 to 45 minutes and often focus on a single skill or topic, making them easy to revisit when you need a refresher. She brings on guest experts too, but the solo episodes are where she really shines -- clear explanations without jargon, practical homework, and a genuine kindness that never feels patronizing. Rated 4.9 stars with over 800 reviews, this podcast sits comfortably at the intersection of clinical rigor and real accessibility.
Not Another Anxiety Show
Kelli Walker takes an approach to anxiety content that's practical, sometimes irreverent, and always grounded in personal experience. She knows the struggle because she lives it, and she's not interested in pretending that breathing exercises fix everything. Real tools for real anxiety - the kind that shows up unannounced and ruins your perfectly good Tuesday. The irreverence is actually therapeutic because anxiety takes itself so seriously that laughing at it occasionally is itself a coping strategy. For people who want help without the calm robot voice telling them to inhale.
AT Parenting Survival Podcast
Natasha Daniels specializes in anxiety and OCD in kids, and that laser focus is exactly what makes this podcast invaluable for the parents who need it. If your child struggles with excessive worry, perfectionism, compulsive behaviors, or meltdowns that don't respond to normal parenting strategies, she gets it. Clinical expertise translated into language actual parents can use on a Tuesday morning. Not general parenting advice. Very specific, very targeted, very useful. One of those niche podcasts that feels life-changing if you're in the target audience. If not, move along.
Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast
Caroline Foran is an Irish bestselling author who turned her own anxiety breakdown into a career helping others understand their brains. Owning It runs in seasons, with 14 seasons and over 220 episodes so far, mixing personal storytelling with expert interviews. What sets Caroline apart is her warmth and relatability. She talks about anxiety the way you might discuss it with a close friend over coffee, not from behind a therapist desk. Recent episodes have featured conversations with neuroscientists unpacking anxiety as an emotion, parenting experts discussing how childhood attachment shapes adult anxiety, and public figures like Millie Mackintosh sharing their own mental health journeys. The format usually pairs a solo episode where Caroline explores a concept with a follow-up interview that brings in professional expertise. Episodes land around 30-45 minutes. The show leans practical, with actionable takeaways about brain function, nervous system regulation, and coping strategies you can use immediately. Her Irish perspective also brings a refreshing cultural angle that most US-centric anxiety podcasts miss. With a 4.6 rating on Apple Podcasts and a loyal listener community, this one rewards regular listening across a full season.
The Anxious Achiever
Morra Aarons-Mele hosts The Anxious Achiever, and the premise is right there in the title: high-performing people often carry a lot of anxiety, and nobody talks about it honestly enough at work. The show sits at the intersection of mental health and professional achievement, covering topics like imposter syndrome, ADHD in the workplace, perfectionism, and the particular strain of burnout that comes from being very good at your job while quietly falling apart.
Episodes run about an hour and drop biweekly. Aarons-Mele interviews therapists, executives, researchers, and people who have navigated mental health challenges while building careers. The conversations are candid in a way that feels earned, not performative. With 296 episodes and a 4.7-star rating from over 550 reviews, the show has built a dedicated audience through the YAP Media network.
The thing that makes The Anxious Achiever stand out is that it does not sugarcoat anything. Aarons-Mele will ask the uncomfortable question and let the silence sit. She has talked openly about her own anxiety and depression, which gives guests permission to go beyond the surface-level "I practiced mindfulness and everything got better" narrative. If you are someone who excels professionally but struggles privately, or if you manage someone who fits that description, this podcast provides both validation and practical strategies. It treats mental health at work as a systems problem, not just an individual one.
Calming Anxiety
Martin Hewlett is a certified clinical hypnotherapist, and Calming Anxiety is his massive library of guided meditations, sleep hypnosis sessions, and nervous system resets. With over 1,000 episodes and daily releases, this is less of a traditional podcast and more of an on-demand anxiety toolkit you can reach for whenever you need it. Most episodes run 10-20 minutes and focus on a single goal: a morning reset, a somatic calm session, a mindful breathing exercise, or a sleep-focused hypnosis track for those nights when your brain refuses to quiet down. His voice is genuinely soothing without being saccharine, and his pacing feels natural rather than performative. The production is clean and minimal, no ads or lengthy intros, just straight into the practice. The show carries a 4.7 rating from over 420 reviews on Apple Podcasts, and the sheer volume of content means you can find something specific for almost any anxiety situation. Bad morning? There is an episode for that. Pre-flight nerves? Covered. Cannot stop overthinking at 2 AM? Multiple options. It pairs well with a more talk-based anxiety podcast. Use this one for immediate relief and the others for understanding the why behind your anxiety.
Living with a mind that refuses to shut down is physically and mentally draining. I spend a significant portion of my week listening to hosts share their stories and expertise through my headphones, and I have realized that the best podcasts for anxiety offer something a clinical setting often cannot. They provide immediate, portable companionship during the exact moments when the world feels too loud. There is a specific kind of magic in hearing a calm, steady voice tell you that your physical symptoms are just your body trying to protect you. It takes the teeth out of the fear.
Finding the right voice for your nervous system
When you start searching for the best anxiety podcast, you quickly realize that the "best" is entirely subjective. Our nervous systems respond to different cues. Some listeners need a highly clinical, science-backed approach. They want to hear about the amygdala, cortisol spikes, and the biological mechanics of the fight-or-flight response. Understanding the "why" behind a racing heart can make the experience feel less like a personal emergency and more like a manageable physical event.
Other people need what I call the "warm hug" style of audio. These shows are often hosted by people with lived experience who have walked through the fire of panic disorder or health anxiety themselves. There is a profound sense of relief that comes from hearing someone describe a specific, intrusive thought you believed was unique to you. If you are looking for a podcast about anxiety that feels like a conversation with a wise friend, these peer-led shows are invaluable. They prioritize empathy and practical, "in the trenches" advice that comes from years of personal trial and error.
Diverse approaches to finding your calm
The variety of methods available in these anxiety podcasts is one of the reasons the medium is so effective for mental health. Many of the top shows lean into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) frameworks. They teach you how to label your thoughts and sit with discomfort rather than fighting it. You will also find a wealth of content focused on mindfulness and somatic experiencing, which helps you get out of your head and back into your body.
I have noticed a helpful trend toward shorter, "emergency" episodes. These are designed to be played during an active spike in stress. Instead of a long interview, the host might lead a three-minute breathing exercise or a grounding technique. For those who prefer a deeper look at the best podcasts for anxiety, there are long-form series that explore the intersection of anxiety with motherhood, career pressure, or childhood trauma. If you are a parent, there are even specialized shows that help you navigate your own stress while supporting a child who is struggling.
Why audio is a powerful tool for recovery
It is a brave thing to seek out a podcast for anxiety. It means you are taking a proactive step toward feeling better. The beauty of the best anxiety podcasts is their accessibility. You can listen while you are driving, doing the dishes, or trying to fall asleep. This low-barrier entry is vital because when you are in the middle of a high-anxiety season, even the idea of scheduling a therapy appointment can feel overwhelming.
These shows act as a bridge. They provide constant, daily reinforcement of the tools you might be learning in professional treatment. Because I listen to so many of these episodes, I can tell you that the most successful shows are the ones that normalize the struggle. They remind us that anxiety is a human experience, not a character flaw. When you find the best podcasts anxiety experts have to offer, you aren't just getting tips; you are joining a community of people who are all learning how to breathe a little easier. Using audio to regulate your mood is a skill, and the more you listen, the more you realize that you really aren't alone in this.
