Being Well Podcast: Depleted Mother Syndrome: Why Moms Burn Out, and How to Recover with Jan Hanson

August 31, 2026

Today on the Being Well Podcast, Forrest is joined by his parents, psychologist Dr. Rick Hanson and nutritionist Jan Hanson, to discuss “Depleted Mother Syndrome:” the exhaustion, brain fog, and low mood so many mothers experience. They talk about how Jan hit bottom in the years after Forrest and his sister were born, why the hardest stretch often comes two or more years after birth, the problem with dismissing these experiences as “just motherhood,” and how people can recover.

Key Topics

00:00: Intro & welcome Jan!
2:39: What inspired the book
10:02: Dr. Rick’s perspective
13:30: Depleted Mother Syndrome
18:33: The accumulated impacts of motherhood
25:44: Taking care of your health as a mom
36:40: Rick & Jan’s personal experience
50:08: Small actions that maintain and repair a relationship
1:04:19: What Jan would tell her younger self
1:17:28: Recap

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