The Nearly Normal Podcast
Welcome to “Nearly Normal,” the podcast where two therapists tear up the “live, laugh, love” script on mental health and show you what being human really looks like—messy, imperfect, and delightfully offbeat. We’re swapping clichés for a healthy dose of sarcasm and a no-nonsense take on anxiety, depression, coping skills and all things mental health related. If you’re done chasing perfection and crave some brutally honest, eye-roll-worthy real talk about how to feel less burnout and more self empowered, you’ve just found your people. Start understanding how to improve your overall mental health today!
Episodes
Two licensed therapists break down Love Is Blind Season 11 in Boston, couple by couple. In Part 4 of our Love Is Blind recap series, Nina and Kate look at the relationship dynamics playing out after the pods. We explain why some couples are getting stronger heading into the weddings and why others are falling apart.
We break down Cam and Aneha, Sarah and John, Rob and Michaella, Jax and Stew, Erika and Blake, and Wilson and W...
Two licensed therapists break down Love Is Blind Season 11, Part 3. The couples got engaged after talking through a wall, and now they live together and meet each other’s families. We talk about which relationships held up, which ones started to crack, and the red flags we saw early. We also cover what these couples can teach you about your own relationship: how you handle conflict, what you expect from a partner...
In Part 2, we discuss more of the four episodes of Love Is Blind as well as details about the couples featured. We look at communication styles, red flags, green flags, attachment patterns, and who seems ready for commitment. Then we connect it to modern dating: situationships, and why so many people struggle to find a healthy relationship today.
Two licensed therapists watch the first 4 episodes of Netflix’s Love Is Blind and ask whether you can build a real relationship without seeing the other person. Nina and Kate cover the psychology of the pods, emotional intimacy, and what happens to physical attraction when it’s taken off the table. We go through the pros and cons of the experiment and what it shows about how people connect. If you’re interested in...
Pressing harder on the remote, saving all of our clothes for some magical event, talking louder on a bad call. These habits feel silly, and they make sense. In this episode, we look at the psychology behind the small quirks that make us human. We explain how our need for control, our learned responses to frustration, and a little superstition shape what we do when things stop working. You'll finish the episode knowing you're not we...
Two licensed therapists play Would You Rather — coping skills edition. We take some of the most talked-about self-care and coping strategies (the ones all over TikTok and Instagram) and decide, as clinicians, whether we'd actually use them ourselves. Some hold up. Some don't. Quick, honest, and a little chaotic — this is what coping skills sound like when real therapists stop being polite a...
Nobody warns you how lonely postpartum can be, or how much shame keeps mothers from saying that out loud. In the final episode of our three-part series on postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis, Nina and Kate close out their conversation on the Lindsay Clancy case by turning to motherhood itself: why moms downplay how hard this job is, how that silence feeds loneliness and postpartum depression, and what actually helps...
Part 2 of our postpartum series picks up where Part 1 left off. We go deeper on what postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis are, how psychosis specifically presents, and why it's so often missed by the people closest to a new mother. Then we talk about the harder part: what real treatment and support look like, and what's still missing from the way this country cares for mothers after birth.
We're&...
Content note: this episode discusses child loss, suicidal ideation, and psychosis. If you're not in a place to hear that today, that's okay — skip this one.
Everyone is talking about the Lindsay Clancy case. Search interest is up, group chats are full of it, and most people can't quite explain why they can't stop reading about it. In this episode, Nina and Kate — t...
Why does asking for help feel harder than doing everything alone? This episode breaks down the tug-of-war between independence and connection — and how letting people support you isn't a failure, it's a skill.
We're taught that independence means doing it all yourself. But real strength isn't going it alone — it's knowing when to lean on someone else.
In...
Nervous system activation feels dramatic because it's designed to be. This episode breaks down what actually triggers your nervous system, how it responds when it's activated, and what to do about it in real time.
We cover:
What activates the nervous system — the everyday triggers most people miss, from low-grade stress to full fight-or-flight moments. How the nervous system actually reacts — the biology behind fight, f...
Adulting feels harder than it used to, and it's not in your head. This episode breaks down decision fatigue — the mental exhaustion that comes from making hundreds of choices a day — and why it's driving so much of the anxiety, overwhelm, and burnout adults feel right now. We talk about the invisible mental load of modern life, why nobody prepared us for this many decisions, and practical ways to pro...
Struggling to make a decision without spiraling into self-doubt? In this episode of Nearly Normal, we break down why overthinking hijacks your decision-making and how to rebuild trust in your own judgment.
You'll learn:
Why do so many men avoid therapy—and how can we change that? In this episode of The Nearly Normal Podcast, we dive deep into the stigma surrounding men’s mental health, emotional vulnerability, and help-seeking behavior. From societal pressure to "man up" to the silent battles men fight daily, we explore why mental health care for men often goes unspoken—and what we can do to support the men in our lives.
Join us ...
We've turned diagnosis into identity. This episode breaks down the rise of self-diagnosis culture: why a TikTok video or an AI chatbot now feels more trustworthy than a therapist, why we're so quick to slap a label on every hard feeling, and why most of what we're calling a "disorder" is actually just a normal human reaction to a hard life event. We talk about the psychology behind why a diagnosis feels like relief, how social...
Stuck in the same dating cycle no matter who you're with? This episode breaks down what it really means to go relationship sober — using a dating break not as avoidance, but as the work. Kate and Nina, with over 20 years of combined clinical experience, unpack the validation loops and trauma responses driving your dating patterns, the difference between a healthy break and hiding, and why choosing yourself first cha...
Loneliness isn't what most people think it is. You can have a full social life, a partner, a group chat that never stops, and still feel completely disconnected. In this episode, therapists Nina and Kate break down the real psychology behind loneliness — why it happens, why it's so misunderstood, and why more people isn't the answer. They talk about emotional loneliness, the paradox of feeli...
The "are we exclusive" conversation is one of the most anxiety-inducing moments in modern dating — and there's a real psychological reason why. This week, licensed therapists Nina and Kate unpack why so many people stall on defining a relationship even when they genuinely want commitment. They cover relationship anxiety, people-pleasing patterns, fear of vulnerability, and the communication tools that make the ...
Dating apps promised to make love easier. So why does it feel so hard? This week on Episode 62 of the Nearly Normal, two licensed therapists with 20+ years of clinical experience break down everything happening beneath the surface of modern dating — the fatigue, the confusion, the unspoken rules, and what all of it is doing to your ability to truly connect. Whether you're actively dating or just dating-app-curious, ...
You don't have an information problem. You have an action problem.
You've watched the patterns. You've had the conversations. You've replayed the moments. You already know what the data is telling you — you're just not ready to do anything with it yet.
In this episode 61, we're talking about why we keep searching for more answers when the answers are already r...
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