No one should underestimate the challenges everyone may be going through during these times and under the current lockdown circumstances. Mental Health has been in the centre of our attention and should be in the centre of yours too. Whether you are a person struggling with mental health or know someone that is, do not hesitate to seek professional help.
However, even if none of these act as a substitute for professional treatment or medical intervention various alternatives may act as supporting mechanisms of self-care. One of these, and if you’ve been following us you may know how much we love them, are podcasts.
Podcasts have become part of our daily media diet, and if they aren’t already part of yours it’s surely time to consider them. With over 1,750,000 existing podcasts as reported by the Edison Research Infinite Dial 2020-21, there’s a wide variety of ones focused on mental health.
With such an extensive choice we’ve decided to gather a list of our favourite ones to help you find the best one for you.
Sandy Allen presents mental illness under a perspective that is not commonly done. Allen breaks down the overrated representation of mental health struggles as a destructive problem with hardly any solution, as often depicted in the content we consume. In this podcast terms and concepts related to mental health are analysed to their core and presented under a new perception of ‘normal’ contradicting the stereotypes we may have grown accustomed to. The host together with extraordinary guests such as Tracy Clayton and Yassir Lester approach complex topics through an interactive vein and make us question programs, theories and even costumes we may have never considered as detrimental to the importance of mental health.
It is not easy to talk about one’s struggles, especially when these tend to push us to extreme thoughts, however Honor Eastly, a mental health advocate and artist manages to do just so in an informative and helpful manner. This podcast is divided into six parts and approaches Esatsly’s experience with suicidal thoughts as humorous diary entries, anecdotes and even first-hand recordings. It may seem inconsiderate at first to regard such a complex matter through dark humour but at times is exactly what we need, a laugh and an optimistic outlook on our past events and problems to move on and get the help we may need. Eastly battled with her own monster, “The Voice” and it wasn’t as easy as a six-part memoir but she overcame her obstacles and demonstrated that no feeling should nor will ever be final.
Paul Gilmartin through the ‘Mental Illness Happy Hour’ podcast hopes to demonstrate that there should be no barrier when it comes to talking about our emotions, traumas or even just our lives. That we’re all in this together and even if at times sour problems may seem individual there’s always someone out there with a similar experience ready to listen to us. Through a series of various interviews with renowned personalities, he explores different aspects and experiences with mental illnesses, from tPTSD effects of sexual assault to parental failure or segregated upbringings.
How often do we try to blame the failure of our happiness to our surroundings or even fate? Well here comes Dr Santos to show us otherwise.
Happiness is, as many of our emotions, something that can depend highly on our understanding of it. It is something that we can control through our thought processes and mental capacity.
Even if you may think that this just isn’t possible after tuning in a few episodes you will soon question the power we each hold when it comes to controlling our behaviour, and the effects this can have in our mental health and overall wellbeing.
Fitness and wellness go hand-in-hand and this podcast highlights this in the best of ways.
The fitness industry, like many others, still has a long way to go. It often represents an exclusivist community that focuses on image more than well being. On looking better over feeling better, but luckily for us the four hosts of ‘Mind Pump’ realised this and decided to do something about it.
Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, and Doug Egge everything post related but always while highlighting its relationship to our mindset and importance of mental wellbeing. Because looking fine doesn’t always equate feeling fine.
The result? An enriching listen for anyone, which tackles insecurities and the over judgmental position we may find ourselves in when judging our bodies and prioritising this over anything else.
The Hilarious World of Depression
We all know that depression exists, but we don’t all acknowledge it the way we should. Depression and being depressed can mean many things, relate to many aspects and take various forms. So why don’t we talk about it this way? Why don’t we consider the multidimensional conditions that relate to it?
If you have the same questions as us and worry about this as much as we do then ‘The Hilarious World of Depression’ is here for you. Host John Moe tells real stories or real people, celebrities and more, with the aim to present the reality of depression from every angle you could imagine (or not). What differentiates his work from many others is his ability and focus on giving advice and presenting the different types of coping tools that exist alongside the different forms of depression.
The meaning of life you ask? Don’t think we’ll ever be able to answer that… But we may know someone that could help us contemplate it.
On Being with Krista Tippett delves into this existential question, what it means living in the 21st century, the burden we carry when trying to comprehend this complex world and the correlation this may have with our mindfulness and mental health. If you’re someone like us, that poses themselves questions of this in-depth nature and would like to hear more extensive discussion on the matter than this is the podcast you have been looking for.
Words by Chiara Ferrai
