Take #75 - Why Your Brain Won't Switch Off | Dr. Lesley Kirkpatrick (mindcomb)

This week, psychiatrist Dr. Lesley Kirkpatrick joins That Digital Take to unpack why our brains won't switch off, and whether the same technology that helped create the problem can be part of the solution. Dr. Lesley specializes in OCD, burnout, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and is the founder of mindcomb, a psychiatry-led, audio-first wellness app built to support people between therapy appointments. She shares the story of building it, from spotting the gap in care to figuring out how a doctor becomes a tech founder, and where she draws the ethical line on what an app should never try to replace. Then we get into the real stuff: how to tell actual burnout from a genuinely exhausting season, why anxiety gets louder the moment your head hits the pillow, why your brain insists on replaying a conversation from three days ago, and what OCD actually looks like versus the version people joke about online. Plus, a candid look at wellness culture, the pressure to journal, meditate, cold plunge and optimize your way to being "regulated," and whether we've turned healing into just another performance metric. We close with a rapid-fire round covering AI as a therapist, the habit people swear helps anxiety but usually doesn't, and the free, unglamorous practice Dr. Lesley wishes more people would try.