5 podcasts worth listening to in the audio library

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When the topics in my head are overwhelming and everything feels a bit too big, I often find it helpful to make some tea. The smell alone brings me down, watching the warm steam mix with sunlight, and of course drinking it: sip after sip. Big questions can simply be clarified better over tea. This is also the motto of the philosophy podcast “Tea with Why”: What gives us meaning? Why are we so exhausted? Why do we need identity? Why are we ashamed?

The actress Denise M’Baye and the journalist Sebastian Friedrich look into the history of philosophy and meet for tea with contemporary philosophers. It’s about both your personal everyday life and the really big things. Sip by sip, new connections emerge and we get an eye for the big picture again.

Our everyday lives often take place on fairly well-trodden paths and we rarely leave our comfort zone. The MDR knowledge podcast “My Challenge” shows us how exciting and enriching it can be to face new challenges and jump over your own shadow. Reporter Daniela Schmidt and her colleagues undertake a new self-experiment every two weeks: for example, running a half marathon, fasting or going barefoot. Particularly intimate topics also become a challenge here: for example, finding a healthy way to deal with anger, overcoming depression or learning to say “no”.

Always accompanied by a microphone, the journalists take us on their journey of experience, while scientific experts from the fields of psychology, health or sport classify the experiences. An approachable podcast that turns science into an adventure and gives you a lot of courage to try something new yourself.

I used to think that doing puzzles was the most boring hobby you could have as an adult. But then I heard an episode of the DLF Nova “Mindful” podcast that radically changed my opinion. It’s about the question of what we as humans need to really thrive and feel more satisfaction in life. This concept, which comes from positive psychology, is called “flourishing”.

An important building block of this blossoming are flow experiences – i.e. moments that neither over nor under-challenge us and in which we are completely absorbed. So I gave the 1,000 piece puzzle a chance and was surprised at how much relaxation and joy it brought me to put together a beautiful floral pattern with my own hands. Of course, it doesn’t have to be doing puzzles; painting, doing crafts, reading or having breakfast with friends can also lead to a flow experience.

The journalist Diane Hielscher and the psychologist Main Huong Nguyen are very enthusiastic about the topic and give practical tips on how mindfulness can enrich our lives. They also show that psychology can be so much more than just dealing with the dark side of being human: it’s about how happiness, optimism, security and trust can be actively strengthened. As a little service bonus, each episode has a little meditation exercise at the end.

Nationwide, more than one in four adults meet the criteria for a mental illness within a year. Five million people in Germany alone suffer from depression. Nevertheless, the most common answer when asked how you are doing is: “Thanks, good.” Because people don’t like to talk about mental health.

Journalist Miriam Davoudvandi wants to change that. In “Thank you, good – the podcast about pop and psyche” she meets public figures to look behind the facade of the dazzling headlines. People like Sido, Bill Kaulitz and Sahra Wagenknecht reveal their very personal stories, talk about their childhood, diagnoses and hospital stays. It really gets down to the nitty-gritty: addiction, self-harming behavior, panic attacks or psychosis.

This podcast shines above all because of its host Miriam Davoudvandi, who shows a big heart for pop culture and at the same time uses a lot of sensitivity in her interviews to bring topics to light that would otherwise have remained hidden. She sets a good example by always bringing herself and her own experience with depression into account, thereby showing that it is possible to destigmatize mental illness.

If the biographical backpack has become too heavy to carry on and feelings of being overwhelmed and hopeless are so pressing that we can no longer cope with our everyday lives, then it is time to get help. But how do you find a suitable therapist? Which form of therapy is right for my concerns? What can I expect from this therapy?

The podcast “Therapyland” is a low-threshold guide through the therapy jungle and provides answers to all of these questions. In six episodes, the journalist Pia Rauschenberger and the psychotherapist Thorsten Padberg let us look behind the otherwise closed doors of psychotherapy, giving us a lot of orientation and thus reducing any fears we may have about the topic.

Editorial processing: Katrin Schlenstedt