Hannah Boettcher on the mental health challenges that come with trying to have a big impact

80k After Hours

In this episode of 80k After Hours, Luisa Rodriguez and Hannah Boettcher discuss various approaches to therapy, and how to use them in practice — focusing specifically on people trying to have a big impact.

Links to learn more, highlights and full transcript.

They cover:

• The effectiveness of therapy, and tips for finding a therapist
• Moral demandingness
• Internal family systems-style therapy
• Motivation and burnout
• Exposure therapy
• Grappling with world problems and x-risk
• Perfectionism and imposter syndrome
• And the risk of over-intellectualising

Who this episode is for:

• High-impact focused people who struggle with moral demandingness, perfectionism, or imposter syndrome
• People who feel anxious thinking about the end of the world
• 80,000 Hours Podcast hosts with the initials LR

Who this episode isn’t for:

• People who aren’t focused on having a big impact
• People who don’t struggle with any mental health issues
• Founders of Scientology with the initials LRH

Get this episode by subscribing to our more experimental podcast on the world’s most pressing problems and how to solve them: type 80k After Hours into your podcasting app.

Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio Engineering Lead: Ben Cordell
Technical editing: Dominic Armstrong
Content editing: Katy Moore, Luisa Rodriguez, and Keiran Harris
Transcriptions: Katy Moore