Magical Overthinkers

If your trauma helped shape who you are, what happens to you when you start healing it? This week, Amanda is joined by complex trauma expert, therapist, and NYU adjunct professor Dr. Gillian O’Shea Brown, LCSW (@dr.gillianosheabrown), author of Psyche’s Awakening, to untangle some of the questions that tend to get flattened into therapy-speak online. They overthink the difference between acute and...

Would you ever date an AI boyfriend? Before you say absolutely fucking not, consider this: plenty of people who swear they’d never have an “AI relationship” are already turning to chatbots for reassurance, emotional processing, difficult conversations, or the occasional late-night spiral. This week, Amanda is joined by Bridget Todd (@bridgetmarieindc), host of There Are No Girls on the Intern...

What if you actually get your dream job... and then realize you're not living the dream you thought you would? This week, Amanda is joined by Cherie Brooke (@cherie.brooke) and Jean (@_jeanluo), hosts of the Tiger Sisters podcast (@tigersisterspodcast), who both left impressive corporate careers after discovering that the jobs their younger selves would have killed for no longer fit the...

 We say we want more human connection, so why can texting “want to hang?” feel weirdly like begging? This week, Amanda is joined by ICU nurse, New York Times bestselling author, and Stories from a Stranger host Hunter Prosper (@hunter_prosper), whose work interviewing strangers has taught him that connection often starts with something deceptively simple: actually listening. Togethe...

Are you ambitious... or just exhausted? This week, Amanda is joined by award winning journalist and author of The Ambition Penalty, Stefanie O'Connell (@stefanieoconnell), to unpack one of the most misunderstood words in our vocabulary, ambition. They explore why ambition isn't a fixed personality trait, how corporate culture rewards some people while penalizing others for the exact same behavior,...

This week, Amanda is joined by entrepreneur, former supreme court attorney and professional poker player, and author of You Can Just Do Things, Cate Hall, to unpack why starting over feels so terrifying and why it might be the very thing that leads us toward a more authentic life. Together, they chat about the fear of quitting, the sunk cost fallacy, why we crave a tidy life story, and how to...

Why are we so afraid of getting older? Is it really about wrinkles... or are we actually afraid of losing our purpose, our identity, and the people we love? This week, Amanda is joined by oncologist, bioethicist, and Eat Your Ice Creamauthor Dr. Ezekiel "Zeke" Emanuel (@drezekielemanuel) to unpack our culture's obsession with staying young. Together, they explore why the wellness industry's promis...

Why does failure feel so much bigger than it actually is? This week, Amanda is joined by entrepreneur, author, and leadership coach Jane Marie Chen (@janemarie.chen) to spiral about failure: why we're so terrified of it, why we avoid it at all costs, and why it often hurts so much more than the thing that actually happened. Together, they explore perfectionism, rejection, burnout, imposter syndrom...

No matter how old we get, there’s a decent chance a small part of us is still trying to impress, understand, forgive, rebel against, or be comforted by our mothers. This week, Amanda is joined by writer and editor Ashley Oerman (@ashleyoerman), author of Motherf*cked, to spiral about one of the most loaded relationships in the human experience: the one between mothers and their children. Together,...

When we first aired this episode in 2024, burnout felt like the defining emotional state of modern life. Two years later… honestly, not much has improved. If anything, burnout has shape-shifted. The girlboss hustle era may be less aspirational than it once was, but it’s been replaced by new flavors of exhaustion: constant digital overwhelm, economic anxiety, doomscrolling, and the strange pressure...

What does “thinking critically” actually mean and why is everyone so convinced they’re already good at it? This week, Amanda is joined by psychologist and author of Radical Thinking, Peter Lamont to explore how all of our beliefs are shaped by a limited slice of what we notice and how we interpret it, which means disagreement is inevitable. Peter reframes critical thinking as something quieter and...

What does a healthy relationship actually look like, and who gets to decide? This week, Amanda is joined by relationship expert Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh (@dr.saranasserzadeh) to overthink "healthy" relationships. Together, they unpack why “healthy” can feel impossible to define, and why a more useful question might be: Does this relationship leave you feeling fulfilled? They explore how many people wa...

What if the antidote to insecurity isn’t looking inward, but reaching outward? This week, Amanda is joined by psychiatrist and attachment expert Dr. Amir Levine to overthink insecurity; where it comes from, why it can feel so consuming, and how it shapes the way we love. Together, they explore how healing happens in connection and how leaning on your support system and surrounding yourself with se...

“Do your own research.” It sounds empowering… so why does it so often lead us straight into confusion, conspiracy, or complete information overload? This week, Amanda is joined by pharmacist and science communicator Dr. Harini Bhat (@tilscience) to overthink what it really means to “do your own research” in the age of the internet. They unpack how a phrase rooted in curiosity became a cultural cat...

Why does flirting feel so natural for some people and completely impossible for the rest of us? This week, Amanda is joined by dating coach and relationship expert Francesca Hogi (@dearfranny) to overthink the art and anxiety of flirting. Together they unpack why flirting often gets misunderstood as manipulation or performance, how modern dating apps have scrambled our instincts, and why genuine c...

This week, host Amanda Montell takes the mic solo to overthink the creeping sense of doom that seems to hum beneath modern life. Drawing from her Esquire essay on “doomslang,” she unpacks the language we use to joke about collapse, catastrophe, and existential dread... and what those jokes might be revealing about how we’re actually coping. From ironic nihilism to memeified despair, Amanda explore...

This week, Amanda is joined by psychologist and bestselling author Guy Winch (@guywinch) to overthink workaholism. Why being “busy” feels virtuous, why burnout can masquerade as success, and how overworking often hides deeper emotional needs. Together, they unpack the psychology behind overwork and the quiet ways it can become a socially acceptable addiction. The conversation offers a new lens on...

When did canceling plans become a personality trait... and at what cost? This week, Amanda is joined by writer and internet culture expert Kate Lindsay (@kathrynfiona) to overthink being a flake... not as a quirky coping mechanism, but as a habit that can quietly shrink our lives. Together, they explore how chronic flakiness can lead to isolation, weaken our relationships, and negatively impact me...

Why does speaking up feel so terrifying even when we know we’re right? This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by happiness researcher and psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky (@sonjalyubomirsky) to overthink confrontation: why we avoid it, why we rehearse it endlessly in our heads, and why it so often feels riskier than staying silent. Together, they explore what confrontation does t...

Welcome to 2026, overthinkers! A question to start off the new year: Are you weirded out by your relationship to your own horniness? This week, Amanda is joined by sex educator, author, and cultural translator Shan Boodram to unpack how physical desire gets shaped by culture, social media, gender, power, and self-image, and why it can feel empowering one moment and deeply shameful or confusing the...

Why does looking back feel so sweet, so painful, and so irresistible this time of year? In this special short episode, Amanda takes a moment to reflect on the year of Magical Overthinkers from the fan favorite episodes to the conversations that changed us. Then she reads her Los Angeles Times essay on nostalgia, exploring why we cling to the past, how memory both comforts and distorts us, and what...

Why does it feel like every time we open our phones, something is begging us to get angry? This week, just in time for Thanksgiving, host Amanda is joined by theologian, ethics professor, and No Small Endeavor host Lee C. Camp (@leeccamp) to overthink about ragebait; the outrage optimized content designed to divide us, drain us, and keep us doomscrolling. Together, they explore how polarization ha...

Amanda is joined by wellness educator and founder of The Being Method MJ Renshaw (@beingmethodbreathwork) to gently spiral about crying: the science, the stigma, and the quiet relief that comes after the tears. - Join the "Magical Overthinkers Club" by following the pod on Instagram @magicaloverthinkers. - To access early, ad-free episodes and more, subscribe to the Magical Overthinkers Substack....

If the algorithm knows what we want before we do… who’s really in charge? This week, host Amanda Montell(@amanda_montell) is joined by linguist, creator, and internet culture observer Adam Aleksic (@etymologynerd) to spiral deep into the invisible yet all powerful force shaping our attention, creativity, politics, and identities: The Algorithm. Why do we talk about it like it’s a god, a ghost, or...

We’re all “holding space,” “setting boundaries,” and “doing the work”, but when does the language of healing start to feel like another script we’re performing? This week, host Amanda Montell is joined by writer and therapist Joe Nucci (@joenuccitherapy) to overthink therapy speak, the vocabulary of mental health that’s seeped into everyday life and the internet alike. Together, they explore how t...