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
Swipe · Anxiety & Stress only
Swipe through Anxiety & Stress
Save time discovering your next favourite podcast by listening to just the best minute of an episode.
The anxiety & stress slate · every cover a link
All 325 anxiety & stress shows →
Next to this on the shelf
Every subtopic on this beat
The beat, written
What is actually on this beat
A racing mind rarely wants a polished lecture. It wants a voice that can slow the moment down, name the loop without feeding it, and offer something usable before attention disappears. The strongest shows here split between patient explanation and immediate relief.
When explanation steadies the room
The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast takes the patient route. Its measured solo voice works through symptoms, thoughts, exposure, and recovery principles in plain language, often circling an idea until it feels less threatening. The warmth matters, but so does the refusal to coddle.
The Anxiety Dr. Podcast is similarly corrective. #223 You're Already Doing the Work..But maybe in the Wrong Direction speaks to listeners who have put real effort into feeling better and still feel stuck, while #221 Why You're Still Anxious After Years of Talk Therapy offers a sharper entry point.
Anxiety in ordinary places
Some of the most useful listening begins where anxiety actually interrupts a day. Disordered: Anxiety Help gets remarkably specific with Anxiety in the Supermarket or Grocery Store (Episode 152) and examines less obvious coping patterns in Anxiety Disorders and Sneaky Compulsions (Episode 151).
Your Anxiety Toolkit - Practical Skills for Anxiety, Panic & Depression ranges from social fear to panic. Start with Bonus Episode: What to Say When Your Brain Freezes in Conversation: Social Anxiety Rescue Script or 425 Overcoming Anticipatory Anxiety (with Sally Winston). For a guided reset instead of discussion, Calming Anxiety | Guided Meditation, Sleep Hypnosis & Panic Attack Relief offers 10 Minute Anxiety Reset A Guided Meditation for Calm and Panic Relief.
When anxiety reaches the family
AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety is the clearest fit for parents. What Good Communication Actually Looks Like with Anxiety and OCD and An Important Difference Between Anxiety vs OCD Reassurance focus the listening around everyday responses.
For an OCD-specific recovery frame, Breaking Free from OCD, Anxiety & Stress with Matt Codde tackles Why Your ERP Hierarchy Isn't Working (OCD Recovery) and Relationship OCD: The Fear Loop Destroying Your Relationship.
The broader Mental Health section is the route back when anxiety overlaps with other concerns. Choose Mindfulness & Meditation for more guided practice, or Trauma & Recovery when the central question is what happened and how healing unfolds.
Where to start
Begin with The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast for calm, sustained explanation. Try Disordered: Anxiety Help for anxiety tied to specific situations, Your Anxiety Toolkit - Practical Skills for Anxiety, Panic & Depression for practical scripts, or AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety if you are supporting a child.
Featured shows below are part of the PlayNext catalog. Updated weekly.
Featured shows
11 shows, described rather than listed
Each has a written blurb stored with the page, with the role its editor gave it on this beat.
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
Words this beat uses without explaining
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.