If you’re over-analysing texts, constantly questioning if your partner loves you, dwelling on their past relationships while also worrying if they’re ‘the one’ for your future - then this episode is for you. We get some expert advice from sex and relationship therapist Lauren Bradley on how to deal with overthinking in dating and relationships, how to know if you're doing it a healthy or harmful amount and how to break the anxiety pattern if it’s ruining your love life.

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

Whether it’s casual dating or locked in long term relationships, 80% of you told us that you overthink everything. We find out what that looks like for you, from chronically overthinking every text, tone of voice, needing constant reassurance and spiralling about the future - and how this kind of anxiety is affecting your love life. 

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

What’s the difference between having a high sex drive, watching a lot of porn, and having an addiction to sex? That’s something we find out in this episode with sex therapist Heide McConkey who’s spent nearly 30 years working with people who have Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder. 

SHOW NOTES:

Sex Addiction Australia: https://www.sexaddictionaustralia.com.au/

Sex Addiction Anonymous: https://saa-recovery.org/

Lifeline: 13 11 14

RELATED EPISODES:

How Often Are You Having Sex?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ35yOTAfyo&t=491s

How To Deal With Mismatched Libidos: https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/the-hook-up/mismatched-libidos-different-low-sex-drives-laura-lee-sexologist/105812842

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

Ever been called a ‘pick me’? It’s been a cultural buzzword for years to describe women who seek male validation by putting down other women - but have we taken the term too far? We find out what it actually means to be a ‘pick me’, why it’s a problematic label to hand out without critical thought, and explore whether the ‘performative male’ is the guy version that needs just as much scrutiny.

SHOW NOTES: 

Pick-me girl backlash exposes a bigger issue: https://www.who.com.au/lifestyle/sex-relationships/pick-me-girl/

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

Your pelvic floor muscles are connected to way more than you might think - like UTIs, constipation, painful sex, orgasms, even peeing when you laugh.

In this episode, pelvic floor physio Chloe Peters helps us get to know this underrated group of muscles, answers all your juicy questions about vaginismus, endo, and bladder stuff, and shares super practical tips for looking after it.

SHOW NOTES:

Chloe Cox - pelvic floor physiotherapist @chloe_thepelvicphysio 

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

The idea of a soulmate might sound like a fairytale, but plenty of people still believe in finding that perfect match. In this episode we dive into your soulmate stories - from romantic to platonic - and ask the big questions: can you have more than one? Do soulmates happen by fate, or are they made over time?

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

Ex-AFL player and author Brandon Jack tackles the peer pressure guys feel to fit in and some of the problematic ways men perform masculinity in their friendships - in his new book Pissants.

In this ep, he chats to Dee Salmin about the novel, the ‘male loneliness epidemic’ and how guys can create more vulnerable and meaningful relationships with each other.

RELATED EPISODES:

Is The ‘Male Loneliness Epidemic’ Real?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZI_bOTFHXE

SHOW NOTES:

Pissants - https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Pissants/Brandon-Jack/9781761633072

Micheal Kimmel research ‘Masculinity As Homophobia’: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1997-97379-006

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

The conversation around men feeling lonely has become a lightning rod for social, political and cultural weigh-ins by everyone - but how do guys actually feel about their loneliness? We asked you to cut through the noise to give your honest experiences of loneliness and male friendship, and we investigate the research to find out if this can even be called an ‘epidemic’. 

Mensline Australia: 1300 789 978

Lifeline: 13 11 14 

SHOW NOTES:

The State Of Loneliness 2023 data

https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/press-release/half-a-million-more-people-are-lonely-all-or-most-of-the-time/

Social Isolation And Loneliness in Australia

https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/topic-areas/health-wellbeing/social-isolation-and-loneliness

‘An uphill battle’: why are men struggling to make – and keep – friends?

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/jul/10/male-friendships-midlife#:~:text=According%20to%20data%20from%20the%20Survey%20Center,in%202021%2C%20compared%20with%203%25%20in%201990.

Male loneliness and isolation: What the data shows

https://aibm.org/research/male-loneliness-and-isolation-what-the-data-shows/

The surprising truth about loneliness in America

https://www.vox.com/even-better/366620/loneliness-epidemic-coping-demographics-america-social-connection-mental-health

Side talk: Half of men feel more comfortable having difficult conversations shoulder-to-shoulder

https://www.greeneking.co.uk/newsroom/shoulder-to-shoulder?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Is Male Loneliness an Epidemic? A Gendered and Structural Reframing

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67e9bb2b8ad1d04967a0459c/t/68abcf2e684fb76f348bc0c0/1756090158503/Is+male+loneliness+an+epidemic.pdf

The men's loneliness epidemic might not exist

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/17/1263527043/its-been-a-minute-male-loneliness-epidemic-real

Vulga Drawings instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFVr4eXopWw/?img_index=1

Females were more likely to have mental health conditions

https://www.americashealthrankings.org/learn/reports/mental-and-behavioral-health-data-brief/key-findings-gender?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Theorizing Mankeeping: The Male Friendship Recession and Women’s Associated Labor as a Structural Component of Gender Inequality

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385006823_Theorizing_Mankeeping_The_Male_Friendship_Recession_and_Women's_Associated_Labor_as_a_Structural_Component_of_Gender_Inequality

Men value romantic relationships more and suffer greater consequences from breakups than women

https://www.psypost.org/men-value-romantic-relationships-more-and-suffer-greater-consequences-from-breakups-than-women/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.