Anxiety Book Club
Learn about mental health and anxiety through interviews with authors, academics, philosophers, mindfulness teachers, tech executives, therapists and more! Get in touch at joshuamalina@gmail.com — also check out my substack at https://anxietybookclub.substack.com/.
Learn about mental health and anxiety through interviews with authors, academics, philosophers, mindfulness teachers, tech executives, therapists and more! Get in touch at joshuamalina@gmail.com — also check out my substack at https://anxietybookclub.substack.com/.
Listen on:
Episodes

Nov 2, 2024
Nov 2, 2024
47 min
In this episode, I speak with with Sanjana Sathya, co-founder of Thrizer, a platform for therapists and their clients to help them use out-of-network benefits to pay clinicians who don't take their insurance
https://www.thrizer.com/

Oct 14, 2024
Oct 14, 2024
47 min
Mardou has a new book, and we discuss its contents. Find more about mardou at ifscomics.com or order the book at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714479/past-tense-by-sacha-mardou/

Oct 10, 2024
Oct 10, 2024
44 min
I talk with my guest Haley Weaver about her illustrated memoir, Give Me Space But Don't Go Far: My Unlikely Friendship with Anxiety. We talk about anxiety, coping mechanisms, family, sports, moving across country, drinking culture, and how swimming and drawing can be soothing. You can find Haley on instagram or substack. Also mentioned in the episode:
National Alliance on Mental Illness
The Opal app for limiting app usage

Sep 22, 2024
Sep 22, 2024
47 min
Mental Health Innovation: Unpacking the Business of Mental Health Tech with Steve Duke
In this episode of the Anxiety Book Club, host Josh Malina talks with Steve Duke, founder of the Hemingway Group and author of the weekly substack, the Hemingway Report. They delve into the complexities of scaling mental health innovations, the importance of business strategy for mental health startups, and why some promising companies fail. Steve shares insights from his personal journey with OCD, the role of brand in mental health, and the latest trends in mental health technology and innovation.
Find Steve on LinkedIn here and check out his substack here.

Mar 1, 2024
Mar 1, 2024
53 min
Did you know that you have a nerve that runs from your brain stem to nearly all of your organs, that helps you shift from fight to flight, to freeze? Well, my guest this month, Dr. Stephen Porges, originator of the Polyvagal Theory, certainly does. Together we discuss the importance of this nerve in your mental health, or ill-health, and how autonomic nerve system regulation undergirds much of the way we feel.
https://a.co/d/fXjacXM

Feb 2, 2024
Feb 2, 2024
54 min
In Episode 51, I speak with Anson Whitmer, co-founder of the men’s mental health app, Mental. We talk about Anson’s graduate research, depression in men, mental health culture, how the mental health app can provide a comfortable space for men, the multitude of things that effect mental health, what bonding looks like in men, the usefulness of cold water, Anson’s personal interest in mental health, rates of suicide in men, the future of AI coaching, the AI infrastructure of Mental’s coaching models, and more.
https://www.getmental.com/

Jan 1, 2024
Jan 1, 2024
1hr 4 min
In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Oren Jay Sofer about his brand new book, Your Heart Was Made For This. Oren is a teacher of buddhist mindfulness and author of the previously featured Say What You Mean, which appeared on the podcast as Episode 23. In this episode, we discuss:
Oren’s motivation for writing the book
The external expression of the dharma
The benefits and skill of renunciation
How equanimity is not about managing expectations, but instead about being more fully with reality, i.e. enthusiasm is not in conflict with equanimity
The merits of marrying equanimity with beginners mind
How formal practice creates opportunities in the present moment
The value of ritual according to the buddha
Judaism and relationship to the sacred
https://www.orenjaysofer.com/
https://a.co/d/drecH1G

Dec 1, 2023
Dec 1, 2023
43 min
In this episode, I am joined by therapist, author, and professor Mary Pipher to discuss her memoir, A Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence. We discuss her early childhood, participation in activism during the Vietnam War, her tenure as a therapist, her relationship with nature, light and grace, her focus on her family and, more recently, on non-attachment.
https://a.co/d/gpozZHG


