Depresh Mode with John Moe (John Moe, Maximum Fun)

You Are Not Alone: the NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health is a deep and thorough look at mental health and mental illness as they are experienced by people from all walks of life. The book’s author, Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, interviewed 130 people who have dealt with trauma, depression, psychosis, OCD, and just about any other mental disorder you can think of. He hadn’t intended to talk to so many but it was all too fascinating to stop. He says it was only a book deadline that prevented him from talking to 130 more. Ken contends that there are two kinds of experts: the ones who get advanced degrees and career achievements in psychiatry and psychology and the ones who become experts by living through mental health situations.

In this interview with Depresh Mode, Ken talks about the vast knowledge and wisdom we can gain from one another and how the new societal openness about mental health is creating a better world.

We also talk about Bigfoot.

Get your copy of You Are Not Alone: the NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health wherever books are sold. Learn more about the National Alliance on Mental Illness by visiting nami.org.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

You really should watch City of Ghosts. It’s on Netflix, six episodes long, and it’s a delightful and important exploration of Los Angeles, cultures, and how we manage history. City of Ghosts also happens to be, at least at first glance, a show for children. It’s animated and features a group of kid characters who fan out across L.A. to interview and record the ghosts that live there. It’s guileless and smart and often very funny.

Elizabeth Ito created the show. She wanted to create something less intense and anxious for her son, who often got overwhelmed by children’s shows. She also wanted to pay tribute to her hometown and the people and cultures that have been there. You can tell City of Ghosts comes from the heart.

Unfortunately, the show was canceled after just one season. Then it won the prestigious Peabody Award. And all of this made for a tremendous emotional roller coaster for Elizabeth, who is prone to anxiety and depression. 

She joins us to talk about the need to create and the wringer that being an artist in the practical world puts her through.

Watch City of Ghosts on Netflix. Watch Mall Stories, Welcome to My Life, and Elizabeth's Peabody victory dance video at her website, ElizabethIto.com. Follow Elizabeth on Twitter @kikutowne and on Instagram @ottersnaps.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Online comments sections have become synonymous with cruelty, hatred, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, and the jerks who spew that kind of thing out. Most of us roll our eyes at that or, if at all possible, avoid even looking at that dispiriting part of the internet altogether. But Dylan Marron is not most of us. When his viral comedy videos led to strongly vitriolic comments aimed directly at Dylan, he started collecting those comments in what he called his Hate Folder. He wondered who these people were who were making them and what they were like in real life. This interest led to the podcast and book, Conversations With People Who Hate Me.

Dylan was able to trace the haters, often through publicly available Facebook accounts, and get many of them to agree to talk on the record. In conversation, his subjects were often revealed to be, if not always apologetic, at least complicated people.

In this episode, Dylan talks about what the comments and conversations have meant to his mental health and his view of the world.

Get your copy of Dylan's book, Conversations With People Who Hate Me wherever books are sold. Listen to Conversations With People Who Hate Me wherever pods are casted. Follow Dylan Marron on Twitter @dylanmarron, Instagram @dylanmarron, and on his Youtube channel.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Yeah, this became a pretty big show. Just kept filling up with more guests. It started with a conversation with Zach Kornfeld of The Try Guys, a YouTube comedy troupe that is preposterously famous and beloved. Because these guys are open about their lives and challenges, we know that Zach had a bumpy ride full of mental illness diagnoses and possible trauma. Zach mentioned a talk he heard from Ira Glass that was very influential so we called Ira to see if we could talk to him as well and Ira said sure. Then it was the Max Fun Drive so we did a little chat with Rhett Miller of the Old 97's, who wrote and recorded our show's theme song "Building Wings". And that's not all! Even Gabe Mara, the producer of the show, got on the mic to talk about the importance of supporting Depresh Mode. Whew. Lot of show. Good show, though. You'll like it.

It's Max Fun Drive! Support Depresh Mode here at www.maximumfun.org/join. Get your Depresh Mode pin starting at the $10 donation level.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

In preparing for our interview with Roxane Gay, we noticed that she had been talking a lot about the shared traumas we have been experiencing as a society in recent years, both epidemiologically and politically. She shares some insight on that with us. We also talk about her own personal trauma, how she manages the depression that she has carried since, and what she’s learned about boundaries.

Roxane Gay is a writer, social commentator, editor and university professor. She’s the author of numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction, including Bad Feminist and Hunger. Her latest is Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business, which collects many opinion pieces she’s written for the New York Times and other publications.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Even if you’re not completely aware of Shane Koyczan’s poem “To This Day”, at least 25 million other people are. That’s how many views the YouTube video of the poem has as of the time we made this episode. It’s not just a great poem, it strikes a nerve. “To This Day” talks in a very direct and meaningful way about the effects of bullying and how people can carry it with them from the playground deep into adulthood. Because, many times, it’s not just kids messing around, it’s actual assault or emotional abuse or a kind of terrorism that can fall under the category of trauma.

Shane was bullied from a very young age and had a hard time making friends throughout his childhood. He also had a key ally: his grandmother Loretta, who encouraged him to write things down. When he reached university, he found more encouragement for his writing and his talent bloomed.

Today, Shane is a successful writer and a person with depression and a performer who has had a hard time getting by during the pandemic.

In this episode, Shane Koyczan shares a poem about his grandmother that left us speechless.

Find out more about Shane Koyczan at his website, ShaneKoyczan.com. Listen to "To This Day" on Shane's Youtube channel, Youtube.com/ShaneKoyczan. Follow Shane on Twitter @Koyczan and on Instagram @shane_koyczan.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Trauma and comedy wouldn’t seem to have a lot in common but they do have one thing: Paul Scheer. You may know Paul from TV shows like the comedy The League or from his podcasts like How Did This Get Made. In this deeply personal, vulnerable, and - yes - funny interview and in his new memoir, Joyful Recollections of Trauma, Paul Scheer recounts tales of the repeated physical and mental abuse he and his mom received from his stepfather. He also recounts how he has learned to process these and other traumatic events, draw strength from them, and become a better and stronger father, husband, and guy.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

If you’re a fan of the podcast Song Exploder, and a whole lot of people are, you know that it’s all about creativity. A musician walks the audience through the components of their song and the inspirations and decisions that went into forming those parts as they came together as a whole. Meanwhile, Hrishikesh Hirway, creator of the show, drops in separated tracks so you can follow the story. 

It’s somewhat surprising then that Hrishi, a musician himself, was unable to write a song for years, even during the run of his show that so many other people find inspirational. Any idea he would get would be shot down by the negative voices in his brain, which told him that anything he made was bound to suck, that he had no business even attempting music. 

Finally, an invitation came from musician Jenny Owen Youngs to collaborate on a song for her podcast about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The pressure was off and Jenny’s belief in Hrishi’s talent was enough to break through those horrible voices.

Hrishikesh Hirway has a new single, Still Dreaming, out October 19th, and he’s on tour with Jenny Owen Youngs.

For music, tour dates, podcasts, and more information, visit Hrishikesh Hirway's website at hrishikesh.co. Follow Hrishi on Twitter @HrishiHirway and on Instagram @hrishihirway.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

There are sad movies that nonetheless offer some sort of hope and optimism. And then there are the ones that offer no hope at all, just bleakness and despair and the cinematic versions of major depressive disorder. Those are our focus on this episode as a trio of film critics and pundits offer their picks for the most depressing films and offer analysis on whether there is value in watching works that present worlds with zero hope. Films discussed include:
Grave of the Fireflies
Aftersun
Amour
Dancer in the Dark
Pan’s Labyrinth
Robocop (2014 remake)
Cries and Whispers
Synecdoche, New York
Cape Fear
Funny Games

Letterboxd: Truly Depressing Movies from Depresh Mode with John Moe

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Lead was added to car fuel back in the twenties and wasn’t phased out in America until 1996. By then, according to neuropsychologist and researcher Dr Aaron Reuben, the damage had very much been done. He’s one of the authors of a new study pointing to 151 million cases of mental illness that correlate with the presence of lead in gas tanks. The people damaged the most were those born during the highest usage of lead, the mid to late sixties through the early eighties. Dr. Reuben says that while circumstances and individual cases vary widely, the average Gen X-er may have also lost four to six IQ points as a result of lead exposure. 

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Aimee Mann has a brilliant new album out called Queens of the Summer Hotel with songs about mental illness and identity, all inspired by the book Girl, Interrupted. The album is new but the songs are not, mostly written and recorded before Aimee had a career-threatening health scare. About a year ago, she lost part of her hearing, leaving her unable to pick up on certain frequencies. What had been music before became what she describes as a fuzzy, distorted electronic sound. 

This presented a significant problem for Aimee as a musician and songwriter. It was like having broken instruments and gear but much more significant because you can’t just swap out your own head at a music store. Eventually, Aimee found that the problem was coming from her brain in the form of stress and trauma. With that knowledge, she set about addressing those issues and began to make progress. She says she’s about 80% recovered.

Turns out sometimes it helpful to not think of “mental health” as something separate from “physical health”. There’s just health.

Get your copy of Queens of the Summer Hotel wherever albums are sold. Follow Aimee Mann on Twitter @aimeemann.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The numbers are daunting. 60% of college students meet the criteria for a mental health disorder. 44% report depression symptoms, 37% for anxiety, and 15% in a recent survey were considering suicide. Dr. Jessi Gold, Chief Wellness Officer for the University of Tennessee System, says these bleak figures come at a time when there is more awareness and openness about mental health than ever before, especially among young people. So is this particular mental health crisis getting worse or is it getting better? Or are we just now becoming aware of how bad it’s been all along? And what can be done?

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Home for Richard Sarvate wasn’t anything like the home lives of his friends. Unlike his friends, his mom was convinced Richard was trying to kill her and that Bill Clinton was sending her secret messages because they had the same birthday. Richard shares stories of growing up with an abusive mom who had schizophrenia, what that meant for the development of his social skills and sense of self, and how the food was always somehow great. He also tells of how a scary situation in Puerto Rico led to a career in comedy.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Our 2021 interview with Joel Kim Booster was easily one of our most talked about episodes we’ve ever made. Joel was deeply depressed at the time of the interview and was brutally honest about it, sharing his belief that his creativity was dead forever and that this was just who he was now, forever. A lot of people expressed great concern for Joel and his mental health and well being when that episode aired. Now, a few years later, Joel returns to Depresh Mode and offers insight into where he was then, the self-care decisions that led to that point, and what key decisions he’s made since.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Rock music isn’t a cure for depression or anxiety. You can’t wail away on “Smoke on the Water” and have all your mental difficulties melt away. That would be awesome, sure, but that’s not how it works. But for Chelsea Ursin, playing was a lot of other things: a break from the nagging mental disorders that created so many problems from a young age, a channel through which to express herself, and an opportunity to help the next generation of girls have a smoother and healthier time than she did. Ursin is the creator and host of Dear Young Rocker, a podcast that started with letters from her modern-day self to her teenage self and which now features other women in rock telling the stories of their younger selves.

Listen to Dear Young Rocker here or on the podcatcher of your choice. Listen to Chelsea's band Banana on Bandcamp. Follow Chelsea on Twitter @RockerDear and on Instagram @dearyoungrocker.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Judah & the Lion’s new album, The Process, is divided into five different stages, one for each stage of grief as described by Swiss psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross. So there are songs about denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Judah Akers was moved to create the album after a series of incidents in his life, including suicides in his family, the collapse of his marriage, and the development of an unwelcome alcohol habit. We talk with Judah about his recording but also about positive experiences with talk therapy, with neurofeedback therapy, and his relationship with God.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

When Emi Nietfeld was applying to colleges, she had her eyes set firmly on the Ivy League. Through her childhood years spent in foster care, shelters, psychiatric hospitals, very occasionally with her problematic mother, and finally a boarding school, Emi was fixated on getting into the most difficult college she could. In an effort to tell her full story, she wrote an application essay that included the struggles she had experienced with mental health issues like eating disorders, depression, and suicidality. That’s what she sent off to Yale as her early decision application and she didn’t get in. Then Emi went back, kept all the homelessness stuff but removed the mental health portions and subsequently gained acceptance into Harvard.

Emi discusses the various meanings of the term “acceptance” in her life and why she chose to write about her own sexual assault in unsparing detail.

Emi Nietfeld's memoir, Acceptance: A Memoir, is out now and will be available in paperback August 1st, 2023. Learn more about Emi and her writing by visiting her website, www.EmiNietfeld.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Within the comedy world, Tom Scharpling is known as a bit of a Swiss Army Knife. He’s the host of the long running Best Show, online now and on WFMU before that. He’s a veteran TV writer on shows like Monk and What We Do In The Shadows. He directs music videos. Now he’s a book writer, with the memoir It Never Ends. In that book and in our interview, he tells stories of his own mental health journey that he’s never shared with an audience before.

Tom started running into trouble with depression when he was around ten years old, which evolved into two hospital stays, the second of which involved electroconvulsive therapy. That treatment wiped out the depression but wiped out a big chunk of his memory in the process.

Get your copy of Tom's memoir It Never Ends: A Memoir With Nice Memories! at www.tomwroteabook.com or wherever books are found. Follow Tom on Twitter @scharpling.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

You’ll notice that this episode is longer than most of our episodes. That’s just the way it tends to go with Griffin Newman. Episodes of his own podcast, Blank Check, regularly clock in at more than two hours. He acts in films and those often top two hours as well. And although he’s only in his thirties, Griffin has had a long career, growing up in a showbiz-adjacent family and starting in standup while not yet out of middle school. We hear how he quit acting (several times) and always got pulled back in, sometimes for dream-come-true roles like Arthur in The Tick, sometimes for experiences that ended up being nightmares, like acting in and then deeply regretting acting in a Woody Allen movie. Griffin Newman examines the roles that depression and anxiety played in his life decisions and where one can see them poking out in his performances.

Listen to Blank Check with Griffin & David on the podcatcher of your choice. Watch The Tick on Amazon Prime and Masters of the Universe: Revelation on Netflix. Watch The George Lucas Talk Show live Sunday nights 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on PlanetScum or on YouTube. Follow Griffin Newman on Twitter @grifflightning and on Instagram @GriffLightning.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

When we went looking for information on the condition known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, one of the first things we noticed was that some people aren’t even calling it that anymore. The website for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), for instance, uses the term “major depressive disorder with a seasonal pattern”, which means an acronym of MDDWASP. Here at Depresh Mode, we’re perfectly fine referring to it as “mud wasp”. On this episode of the show, we talk with NAMI’s chief medical officer, Dr. Ken Duckworth, about how it’s similar to and different from traditional depression and what one could do to deal with it. With Ken, we discuss the less common and less understood spring and summer variety of MDDWASP. We also hear from Joy and Christina from our Preshies group on Facebook about their experiences.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.
 

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Zac Carper, lead singer and guitarist for the garage punk bad FIDLAR, is very familiar with one kind of drugs: the street substances of meth, heroin, and crack that he engaged in heavily when he was younger. Now, at 37, he’s grappling with a different sort: medications prescribed for his newly diagnosed bipolar disorder. Zac has found that, while he needs some help managing the intense hypomanic episodes and depressive crashes, the meds he’s been given lead to some new problems that interfere with his life as a touring musician putting on very intense, high-energy shows where he doesn’t so much sing as bark.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Getting Jamie Lee Curtis to open about her many years spent addicted to Vicodin is, frankly, not very difficult. She wants to talk about it. And that’s for a couple of reasons. One, she wants to make it clear that she’s no different from any other addict in any other walk of life. That’s why she calls herself a dope fiend. She just happens to have had success in an industry she derisively calls “show off business”. Two, because she committed to sobriety after reading someone else’s story of addiction so maybe her story can help someone too.

We talk to Jamie about how she got hooked, how she sustained the habit, and how she carried on a perfectly successful movie star life without anyone catching on. Until they did catch on.

Listen to Letters from Camp, now on its third and final season, at Audible.com. Follow Jamie Lee Curtis on Twitter @jamieleecurtis and on Instagram @curtisleejamie.

Jamie's Gifts to John:

"At such a time, it seems natural and good to me to ask myself these questions. What do I believe in? What must I fight for and what must I fight against? Our species is the only creative species and it has only one creative instrument: the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man. And now the forces marshalled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on the preciousness, the mind of man. By disparagement, by starvation, by repressions, forced direction, and the stunning hammer blows of conditioning. The free roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted, and drugged. It is a sad, suicidal course our species seems to have taken. And this I believe that the free exploring mind of the exploring human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for. The freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I'm about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind for this is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this. And I hate it. And I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost." - John Steinbeck, East of Eden

"When things go unexamined for a long enough time, certain things happen. They become very very powerful. They create conformity. They intimidate." - E.L. Doctorow

"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." - The Dread Pirate Roberts, The Princess Bride

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

On the podcast Hyperfixed, host Alex Goldman sets out to solve mysteries and conundrums that listeners submit. But he’s found himself having to do some figuring out for himself. Alex finally got diagnosed with ADHD just a few years ago, when he was around 42 years old. Which was a big relief after years of struggling with things like attention and task completion. The problem was that the meds they gave him triggered hypomania followed by big depressive crashes, resulting in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder type II. So now Alex has to manage depression, ADHD, and hypomania. It’s tricky.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Youngmi Mayer says she hates doing research but, in our conversation and in her new memoir I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying, she does a lot of digging into the events of her life and what they all meant. Youngmi grew up in Saipan and Korea, the daughter of a Korean mother and a White American father, and had to deal with discrimination, harassment, and abuse. Later on, she moved to America with $700 in her pocket and no real plan in order to escape an abusive relationship and had to find a path that included a place of prominence in the restaurant scene, a life of comedy, and a severe depression disorder.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Members of Congress answer to their constituents, ultimately. They work for us. So this week, we check in on one of our employees, the junior senator from Minnesota, Tina Smith. Smith is very active on the topic of mental health and gives us updates on legislation that is moving - sometimes slowly, sometimes swiftly - through the U.S. Senate. We discuss the provider shortage, the innovation around telehealth, and whether congress can or should do anything about regulating social networks to better protect the mental health of young people. We also hear Smith’s own story as a person who has experienced major depressive disorder first hand.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

This special network wide event is a celebration of The MaxFunDrive! If you’d like to support podcasts you love for just $5 a month and get bonus gifts in the process, go to maximumfun.org/join. 

We’re kicking off the most exciting time of the year for the MaxFun Network with a trivia game show featuring hosts from tons of great podcasts.

J. Keith van Straaten and Helen Hong from “Go Fact Yourself” are joined by:

Jackie Kashian -“The Jackie and Laurie Show” 

Jeremy Bent -“Eurovangelists” 

John Moe - “Depresh Mode with John Moe”

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

We all have voices inside ourselves that give us advice on what to do in a given situation. Not talking about literal voices that you genuinely hear, just thoughts that you have when a decision needs to be made or something needs to be navigated. And those voices sometimes contradict each other so you need to know which one has your best interests at heart. Author Cheryl Strayed refers to her negative and unhelpful voice as her ITS, which stands for Inner Terrible Someone, while the one that’s really got her back, that makes her feel genuinely good is the Wise Inner Sage.

We talk with Cheryl about voices, her new television series Tiny Beautiful Things, turning points in life, heroin, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and much more.

Watch Tiny Beautiful Things on hulu now.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Nick Seluk had been drawing an online comic called Awkward Yeti about a socially stumbling cryptid named Lars while working a corporate day job as a graphic designer. Eventually, Seluk started creating strips where Lars’s heart and brain were walking around on their own, trying to strike a balance between their emotional and logical tendencies. And audiences responded, sending Heart and Brain into viral meme territory. In this interview, Seluk talks about how these resonant characters, which he now draws full-time, are a reflection of his own ADHD and are informed by the anxiety and depression he has dealt with.

Read Heart and Brain as well as Nick Seluk's other comics at his website, www.TheAwkwardYeti.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Depresh Mode with John Moe and Go Fact Yourself got together to celebrate MaxFun Block Party!

If you enjoyed this conversation we had with host J. Keith van Straaten, be sure to subscribe to Go Fact Yourself on maximumfun.org.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The hierarchies, politics, and constant stress of the average job situation can be a lot to manage for anyone. If you add a mental health issue to contend with on top of all that, it can get downright fraught. Megan Delp is a therapist and the Director of Workplace Mental Health for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).  She’s here to field some questions, including several from listeners, about your rights, how to spot your allies, and how to take care of yourself at your job.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

In terms of achievement, Gracie Gold had it all: Olympic medal, world championships, beloved celebrity at the pinnacle of an incredibly competitive and difficult field. She even became friends with Taylor Swift. Unfortunately, in terms of mental health problems, she also had it all: eating disorders, body dysmorphia, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, ADHD, and OCD. Despite those challenges, her career required dressing up in glamorous outfits and perfect hair and makeup and going out to skate under the spotlights and be judged. It all got to be too much and Gracie fell apart, finally got treatment, and began a long road to recovery. Gracie has a new book, titled OutOfShapeWorthlessLoser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F*cking Up, and Figuring It Out.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Sure, we know Santa Claus flies around the world delivering presents, but doesn’t that seem awfully compulsive? And what’s with the meticulous list of judgments he keeps? And why is he fixated on everyone believing in him? Like, ultimately, what’s Santa’s deal, mental health wise?

John is joined by Broti Gupta, Carolina Hidalgo, and Hal Lublin to analyze (without being at all qualified to do so) a variety of Christmas figures who seem prone to rather odd behaviors. We have familiar characters like the Grinch, Scrooge, and the Little Drummer Boy but we also dive deep with Jack Skellington, the Gremlins, and Det. Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon. It’s all very tongue-in-cheek. Please note, if you are an actual gremlin or reindeer with a glowing nose and you’re having a tough time, please consult an actual therapist.

Listen to Tights and Fights and No Dogs in Space on the podcatcher of your choice. Subscribe to Broti's Patreon to listen to the Lecture Hall podcast. Follow Broti Gupta, Carolina Hidalgo, and Hal Lublin on Twitter @BrotiGupta, @CarolinaDoesOk, and @hallublin.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Before he was a podcast host, radio personality, or a journalist breaking major political news, Jarrett Hill was a kid growing up gay in a religiously conservative environment. So when it was time to come out, it meant defying the homophobic words of his pastor who had urged parents to not let their kids grow up to be “sissies”. He had first started seeing therapists as a result of his parents’ protracted divorce and went intermittently over the years. Finally, with the help of a particularly observant therapist, he put it together that a pattern of thinking and behavior he had experienced was, in fact, major depressive disorder.

Jarrett Hill has found that the most helpful therapist for him is a woman of color. He was used to opening up to women in his life more than men and having a person of color meant that his therapist would know what he’d been through and believe him. Dr. Ksera Dyette, who is a therapist and sought help herself, talks about how safety itself is at stake in a search for people who share your cultural experiences. She offers advice on how she screens potential therapists and the difference it makes.

Listen to Jarrett's podcast with Tre'vell Anderson, FANTI, here or wherever podcasts are found. Follow FANTI on Twitter @fantipodcast, follow Jarrett Hill on Twitter @JarrettHill and on Instagram @jarretthill, and visit Jarett's website here.

Visit Dr. Ksera Dyette's website here as well as her COVID-19 Resources page here. Follow her on Instagram @cteacounselling and on TikTok @drdyette. Visit Dr. Dyette's linktree here.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

People are many things. Tabitha Soren became famous for her conversations with star musicians of the 90’s during her stint on MTV News. But that’s not who she is anymore. Tabitha is, among many things, a mother grieving the loss of her daughter, Dixie, in a 2021 car accident. She talks about the challenge of having to come up with words to talk about Dixie and what her family has been through in the last year and a half. And she talks about the inspiration she stills draws from the life Dixie led. Tabitha is also a successful and acclaimed artist, working within the medium of photography to create pieces that are vibrant, complex, and multi-layered in both the literal and figurative sense.

And yeah, she is still the same person who had a front row seat to important musical moments. She fills us in on what it was like to be an extra in the Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right” music video. It involved cream pies that were far from fresh.

For more information and Tabitha's photography, visit her website at TabithaSoren.com. Follow Tabitha on Twitter @tabithasoren and on Instagram @tabithasoren.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

During a decades long career in the United States Army, Gregg Martin just kept on succeeding. Star cadet at West Point, getting promoted up to two-start General, earning PhD degrees along the way, and receiving glowing evaluations all the while for his boundless energy and enthusiasm. He now knows that he was operating under a condition called hyperthymia, being in a constant state of near mania. After a deployment to Iraq, Gregg’s mania kicked into high gear and was accompanied by bouts of deep depression. It would take many years of further promotion and misdiagnosis before Gregg’s behavior became so erratic that his life fell apart and his bipolar disorder was finally identified. Then he had to figure out how to get better. He tells his story in this interview and in his book Bipolar General: My Forever War with Mental Illness.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Introverts around the world celebrated, quietly, when Susan Cain’s book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, became a #1 best-seller back in 2012. Her next book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, also went to #1. Now Cain is back with an audio series, A Quiet Life in Seven Steps, about how to reach a quieter mindset. In this interview, we talk through some of those steps and the challenges one might face in trying to get there.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.
 

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Gary Gulman is a very successful comedian. He’s released several specials, plays to packed rooms, and is incredibly highly regarded among his peers. But for his first book, Misfits: Growing Up Awkward in the ‘80s, Gary didn’t want to just rehash his act into book form. Gary, an avid reader, has read books like that and felt ripped off by them. Instead, he dove into his formative years to take a close look at the stories and experienced that shaped him and his complex state of mental health. We talk with Gary about those memories, the public life of his depression, and why food is funny.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

COVID has been traumatic for young people. For a year and a half now, it’s either been impossible to go to school or the place that they go to doesn’t match what they used to know as school. The virus may have caused severe illness or death in their families. It’s a frightening time for all of us and especially so among the youngest and most vulnerable. So as in-class education really begins again in earnest, what’s the state of these people showing up to the classrooms and how can we, not just as parents or teachers but members of society, help?

We speak with Ruby Ramirez, principal in the Dallas Independent School District, about how she prepared her school for the state of mind the students are returning with. One thing that’s helped everyone feel better? Masks. Yep, the things that made everyone so uncomfortable in the earlier days of COVID now give students a sense of security in the classroom and hallways.

Masks are a big deal for Dr. Robin Gurwitch as well. She’s a psychologist and Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and she points out that one of the best ways to recover from our societal trauma is to stop the virus itself. To do that, wear your dang masks where you’re told to wear it. In the interview, Robin mentions some online resources that could help anyone.

Here they are:

National Child Traumatic Stress Network (www.nctsn.org or https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/disasters/pandemic-resources)
American Psychological Association (https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19/parenting-caregiving) 
National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope with COVID-19   
https://www.nctsn.org/resources/supporting-children-during-coronavirus-covid19
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress: https://www.cstsonline.org/assets/media/documents/CSTS_FS_Discussing_Coronavirus_w_Your_Children.pdf  
https://www.cstsonline.org/assets/media/documents/CSTS_FS_Finding_Right_Words_Talk_Children_Teens_Coronavirus.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/for-parents.html
American Psychological Association at https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19). 

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The English language is constantly growing and evolving, and so is our usage of that language. We don’t refer to people with mental illness as “lunatics” anymore. At least we shouldn’t. But there was a time when that was a commonly accepted term.

Even language that we think to be more enlightened can fall out of favor. Person-first terminology has become popular in recent years. That’s where you don’t say “Tom has depression.” You say, “Tom is a person with depression,” in an effort to convey that Tom is a person above anything else. But the person-first has detractors as well, who argue, among other things, that one’s personhood shouldn’t require reiteration and that doing so could call it into question.

We’re joined by Helen Zaltzman noted wordsmith and host of The Allusionist podcast. And we speak with Dr. Ksera Dyette, a therapist in practice in Boston.

Listen to The Allusionist podcast wherever fine pods are cast. Follow Helen Zaltzman on Twitter @HelenZaltzman and on Instagram @helenzaltzman. Learn more about Dr. Ksera Dyette and Cup of Tea Counselling by visiting beacons.ai/cteacounselling. Follow Dr. Dyette on Instagram @cteacounselling and on TikTok @drdyette.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Just because someone’s depressed, doesn’t mean they can’t achieve great things. Just because someone can achieve great things, doesn’t mean they aren’t depressed. You may already know these facts, especially if you’ve been listening to our show doe a while, but they bear repeating because they can be easy to forget. Sierra Katow has a new standup special, her first, called Funt (referring to the Fun Aunt she hopes to be) and she joins us to talk about the depression that has been there since she was a kid and which she’s had to work to manage ever since. It’s an honest and very funny conversation.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Right now, in our society, there is so much to be anxious about. There are many factors that could lead one to feel depressed and defeated. If one already has a tendency toward anxiety and depression, that path can be even shorter. But as a member of that society, one must look for hope anyway. It’s that dynamic relationship between despair and hope that led us to reach out to Maggie Smith. The American poet Maggie Smith, not the British actor Maggie Smith.

Maggie is the author of several volumes of poetry and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review, the New York Times, and the Best American Poetry anthology. She became very well known in 2016 when her poem “Good Bones”, about the bleakness of the present and the possibility of a better future, became a viral hit.

In this interview, she talks about her anxious childhood, the pessimism people knew her for as an adult, a divorce that changed her significantly, and how to unleash your inner weirdness for the benefit of yourself and your writing.

For books, events, and more poems, visit Maggie's website at www.MaggieSmithPoet.com. Follow Maggie on Twitter @maggiesmithpoet.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

There is plenty of information coming out of the CDC about COVID that has nothing to do with actual viruses in droplets. America’s mental health condition is not really good right now, with rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation measuring way, way above how they were before the pandemic. Once the virus is contained and the worst of the threat has passed, we won’t be out of the woods. We’ll just be entering a different kind of woods. In this week’s episode, a talk about how complex trauma from a period such as this is likely to affect us in the long term. Short answer: it’s going to get nasty. At the same time, we are well positioned to talk to each other, share sympathy, and share kindness because of modern technology and because of a growing openness in society to talk about mental health challenges.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

We’ve all seen screen portrayals of people with mental illnesses and we’ve all seen ones that miss the mark pretty badly. Someone has a vague sense of “crazy” about them so they turn into an evil sadist. A motel manager in the rather broadly titled film “Psycho” dresses up as his dead mother and murders a guest in the shower. Or someone just hamming through an over the top performance as a person with multiple personalities.

In this episode, we blow the whistle on some stuff like that but we also recognize some artists who go the extra mile to create portrayals of mental illness that are truthful and integral to the story. We have two sharp-eyed pop culture watchers with us and some guest commentators from our Preshies group on Facebook.

Listen to FANTI and Pop Culture Happy Hour on the podcatcher of your choice. Follow Tre'vell Anderson and Linda Holmes on Twitter @TrevellAnderson and @lindaholmes.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Author Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, has connected with a lot of people through her essays and books about the challenges of daily life, getting a lot of laughs from topics that might not appear all that funny. Jenny deals with depression and anxiety that can get pretty fierce. In her new book, Broken, she details her semi-successful TMS treatment and she explains to John Moe how odd and helpful it was. Nowhere, Jenny’s new bookstore in San Antonio, is now open.

Get your copy of Broken (in the Best Possible Way) here or wherever books are sold. Visit Jenny's website here. Check out Jenny's bookstore in San Antonio, Texas and join her Fantastic Strangelings Book of the Month Club here: Nowhere Bookshop.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of MaximumFun.org

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Jason Kander had heard of post-traumatic stress disorder. He just didn’t think he had it. After all, he hadn’t been in any firefights while stationed in wartime Afghanistan, he had merely worked as an intelligence officer. And even though that job put him in positions of tremendous vulnerability where he may have to kill or be killed in an instant, it never occurred to him that he was experiencing trauma.

So when Jason got back stateside and remained hypervigilant, was destroyed by night terrors, patrolled his house with a gun, and was generally a mess, he figured it was something that would soon go away. As he waited for that to happen, he climbed the ranks of Democratic politics, eventually being told by Barack Obama that he should consider running for the highest office in the land.

But you can’t run from mental illness forever. It catches you. It caught Jason in the middle of a race for Mayor of Kansas City. That’s when he hit bottom and got help. It’s a story told in his new book, Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD.

Get your copy of Jason's book, Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD, wherever books are sold. Listen to Majority 54, Jason's podcast with Ravi Gupta, wherever fine pods are cast. Visit Jason Kander's website at JasonKander.com. Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonKander and on Instagram @jasonkander.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Have you ever felt like an impostor? Some of you, the listeners, wrote in to answer this question. According to Dr. Valerie Young from the Impostor Syndrome Institute, about 70% of you will answer that question with a “yes.” Dr. Young joins us to discuss both the internal and external factors that cause impostor syndrome, as well as what individuals and organizations can do to lessen it. Dr. Ken Duckworth, the chief medical officer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, also talks to us about why impostor syndrome is not considered a mental health condition but shares how the feeling might be addressed.

Learn more about Dr. Valerie Young, her book, The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, and her work by visiting www.ImpostorSyndrome.com. 

Learn more about Dr. Ken Duckworth, his book, You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health, and his work by visiting www.NAMI.org.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Lamb of God is a very popular heavy metal band with Grammy nominations, gold records, and a huge headbanging following. Randy Blythe, front man for the band and author of a new book, Just Beyond the Light, is in recovery from drugs and alcohol and tells stories of finding sobriety, including how it was pretty easy to stay sober while on an Australian vacation surrounded by koalas but a lot harder once he returned to the States and the old patterns and routines of his life. Randy also talks about surviving a panic attack and finding better health through acts of service to others.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
 

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

What is it like to feel better in your mental state? And what does it take to get there and to stay that way? Those are some of the questions we ask in this interview with the great comedian Gary Gulman. Gary sounds very different than when John Moe first interviewed him back in the fall of 2017 when Gary had been hospitalized for depression and was just beginning to turn things around. We hear about how he convinced himself to begin a very kind and manageable exercise regimen, how he tended to his nutrition, and how he took a pretty radical approach to saying yes to just about every opportunity that came his way, even when that meant having lunch with audience members who asked on the day after a show.

From this episode, host John Moe says, “We spend a lot of time on this podcast talking about what it’s like to feel terrible. Because it’s good to know that and people can relate and feel less alone. We carry each other’s load. But I thought it would be good to also hear about what recovery can sound like.”

For more live shows and more information, visit Gary's website, www.GaryGulman.com.

OH AND ALSO it’s the week 2 of our annual MAX FUN DRIVE! Now is your chance to support Depresh Mode so it can keep happening!

To entice you, we are offering:

• The satisfaction of helping make this show, which helps people, possible!
• Access to WHAT WORKS FOR ME, our all-listener bonus content episode. Regular people share the tips and tricks of what works for them to improve their mental health or at least make the day a little more manageable.
• A one-of-a-kind Depresh Mode restickable sticker featuring Oops Nope, our official Depresh Mode mascot. That’s right: restickable.
• The Maximum Fun Family Cookbook, featuring recipes from all your favorite shows, including John Moe’s famous Marshmallow Crappy. We also have a jar of Max Fun seasoning, which can go with just about any food, and the MAXIMUM YUM APRON, which is stylish and also black, so it hides stains.
• Hats, messenger bags, and so much more!
• Go to maximumfun.org/join, find a level that works for you, and join us RIGHT NOW! Exclamation points!

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Audio clip of Gary Gulman from “The Hilarious World of Depression®”, a production from Minnesota Public Radio®.  (p) 2017 Minnesota Public Radio®.  Used with permission. All rights reserved.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

On The Great British Bake-Off season nine, Kim-Joy became well known not just for how cute her baked goods were but for how meticulously, exquisitely crafted they were. Her success on the show has been parlayed into a series of cookbooks and even a collaborative card game. Before all that success, things were different for Kim-Joy, including a strained relationship with her father in an unusual housing arrangement, years of selective mutism at school, and a lot of loneliness, depression, and anxiety.

Kim-Joy eventually found her way into a career as a mental health provider and found herself in a relationship with a man, now her husband, who encouraged her creative pursuits and helped provide a safe space in which to create.

How does someone go from isolation to a medium that asks you to share everything? And how did she manage her world once she got there? We talk to Kim-Joy and find out.

Pre-order Kim-Joy's new book, Bake Me A Cat: 50 Purrfect Recipes for Edible Kitty Cakes, Cookies and More!, at the bookstore of your choice. For more books, YouTube videos, and Kim-Joy's board game, Kim-Joy's Magic Bakery, visit her website at www.KimJoysKitchen.com. Follow Kim-Joy on Twitter @kimjoyskitchen and on Instagram @kimjoy.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Shannon Shaw was on her way to check out an alternate venue for her upcoming wedding and then to her bachelorette party one August day in 2022 when she got word that Joe Haener, Shannon’s fiancé, had been killed. His pickup had collided with another pickup and he died right outside the fields of his family farm. Shannon joins us to talk about the pain, the loss, the grief.and the joy of knowing and loving Joe in the first place. One of the ways she processed all this was to do what she does best: create music. We hear about all that went into the intensely personal album The Moon Is In The Wrong Place by Shannon & the Clams.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

We all have voices inside ourselves that give us advice on what to do in a given situation. Not talking about literal voices that you genuinely hear, just thoughts that you have when a decision needs to be made or something needs to be navigated. And those voices sometimes contradict each other so you need to know which one has your best interests at heart. Author Cheryl Strayed refers to her negative and unhelpful voice as her ITS, which stands for Inner Terrible Someone, while the one that’s really got her back, that makes her feel genuinely good is the Wise Inner Sage.

We talk with Cheryl about voices, her new television series Tiny Beautiful Things, turning points in life, heroin, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and much more.

Watch Tiny Beautiful Things on hulu now.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

For much of the world, Moon Unit Zappa is famous for two things: the unusual name given her by her father, iconic musician Frank Zappa, and the 1982 song “Valley Girl” where she appeared with Frank when she was 14. The full, complex portrait of life in this unconventional family isn’t all that funny as told by Moon today. She tells of a lifetime of neglect, of witnessing Frank’s serial infidelity within the family home, of a mother prone to severe narcissism, and of a great deal of alienation between Moon and her three siblings. You can’t control the world you grew up in but you can conscientiously choose the world you create afterwards.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Bethany Cosentino describes her new album as “a coming-of-age story about a 36-year-old woman reclaiming her life and what matters against the landscape of the world ending.” That last bit of that description is hard to miss and indeed climate anxiety figures heavily in the record but let’s not look past the middle part of the description, the part with the reclaiming life and what matters. In this fun and insightful interview, Bethany talks about recently being diagnosed with ADHD just a few weeks ago and how it’s helping her gain insight on many elements of her life. She also discusses the photo she keeps of herself as a young child, back when she was a child actor in commercials, and how it serves as a reminder that taking care of herself today means also taking care of that same kid.

Bethany's new album, Natural Disaster, is out July 28, 2023. Watch the music video for "It's Fine", the first single from Natural Disaster, on Youtube. For tour dates, her music, and more about Bethany, visit her website, www.BethanyCosentino.com. Follow Bethany on Instagram @bethany_cosentino.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Jamie never expected to be a mental health advocate. He was working in the industry that had always been his dream career: surfing apparel. But things changed after several days spent taking care of a young woman he didn’t know, who was struggling with suicidal thoughts, substance use disorder, and self-harm. Renee had carved the word “fuckup” onto her arms but couldn’t get into a treatment facility for several days. Jamie’s essay about their time together became a viral sensation on MySpace, which led the way to t-shirt sales to help fund Renee’s recovery. From there, the essay became a large, successful mental health advocacy non-profit.

Jamie tells that story as well as why he ultimately left TWLOHA, how he perseveres through bleak suicide statistics, and what he’s doing about a recent breakup.

Visit Jamie's website at JamieTworkowski.com. Follow Jamie on Twitter @jamietworkowski and on Instagram @jamietworkowski. Check out Jamie's new clothing company Needs An Ocean at NeedsAnOcean.com. To learn more about To Write Love On Her Arms and to read Jamie's original story, visit twloha.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The issue of money is packed with shame, anxiety, and a lot of psychological mess that you might have to unpack in order to get to a comfortable place. Fortunately, there’s therapy for that. Celia Roberts Hughes is a Nashville, Tennessee professional financial therapist, merging the overlapping world of personal psychology and money to try to strike some peace and harmony between the two. Celia says a lot of the work that she does tries to get at how the client has been programmed to think about money from family experiences or cultural attachments. She gives us a glimpse into how you can get to a healthier relationship with your mind and your bank account.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.
 

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Granted, there have been people very high on the prospects of psychedelics for a long time as a means of achieving better mental health. But these folks didn’t appear in scientific and medical circles so much as they appeared in drum circles. Things are different now, with very promising research and results being reported on the ability of these drugs to kind of un-stick one’s mind and achieve a better state of mental health.

We talk with freelance reporter and researcher John Semley, who has been reporting on the gold rush among scientists and pharma companies to create and patent new drugs. We find out when these treatments might be available in clinical settings for the general public and when you can pick some up at your local Walgreen’s. 

The High-Stakes Race to Engineer New Psychedelic Drugs by John Semley in Wired

Follow John Semley on Twitter @johnsemley3000.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Within the comedy world, Tom Scharpling is known as a bit of a Swiss Army Knife. He’s the host of the long running Best Show, online now and on WFMU before that. He’s a veteran TV writer on shows like Monk and What We Do In The Shadows. He directs music videos. Now he’s a book writer, with the memoir It Never Ends. In that book and in our interview, he tells stories of his own mental health journey that he’s never shared with an audience before.

Tom started running into trouble with depression when he was around ten years old, which evolved into two hospital stays, the second of which involved electroconvulsive therapy. That treatment wiped out the depression but wiped out a big chunk of his memory in the process.

Get your copy of It Never Ends: A Memoir With Nice Memories! at www.tomwroteabook.com or wherever books are found. Follow Tom on Twitter @scharpling.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Imagine serving your country in the military, incurring some trauma and some mental health difficulties, and then finding that your appointments to get mental health treatment keep getting canceled without explanation. And in many cases, it’s you, the patient, being unfairly blamed for canceling or not showing up to the appointments. That’s happening now in America’s veteran healthcare system, according to Military.com reporter Patricia Kime. She joins us to talk about the political pressure against the V.A. that might be influencing this issue and she shares what the veterans are reaching out to tell her.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Eating disorders are, unfortunately, pretty common. It’s also pretty common to experience shame and anxiety about them and thus suffer in silence. Annie Weisman is a veteran playwright and television writer and producer. From her late teens to age 30, Annie dealt with bulimia. She was binging and purging and not telling anyone. Even after she got help for the condition (she now considers herself to be recovered), she kept quiet about that part of her history. That is, until she made a TV show called Physical, which debuted last year. 

In this interview, Annie Weisman talks about taking on the most painful mental health experiences of her life and translating them into this show, which stars Rose Byrne as a character not precisely based on Annie but with a lot in common. She also talks about the pain of keeping the bulimia a secret and the pain of those around her when they finally found out.

Watch the first two seasons of Physical on Apple TV+. Follow Annie Weisman on Twitter @mrsanniemac and on Instagram @annieweisman.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Memories are like the radiant light and heat of the sun. They’re always coming at us, inescapable. But like that radiant light and heat, memories can be harnessed and converted into a fuel that can provide power. That’s the thinking behind cognitive reminiscence therapy (CRT), the practice of revisiting, reexamining, and reframing your memories to get to a better place psychologically. Dr. David Hallford of Deakin University in Australia joins us to share his research into CRT and his findings that issues like depression, self-esteem, and optimism improve considerably when therapeutic practices are put in place. He also advises on how we could do exactly that to live better lives.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

I mean, even before you see the baked goods available at Depressed Cake Shop, the name alone is good for a laugh. Because what could be less depressing than a cake shop? And then you see the storm cloud cookies or the cupcakes with gray frosting and the joke gets even funnier. The world of depression? It can be pretty hilarious at times. Depressed Cake Shop isn’t fixed to one location, rather it’s a series of pop-up shops selling funny/bleak sweets to benefit local mental health charities. We speak with Valerie Van Galder, the CEO of the organization that helps make all the little shops possible.

We also meet Sascha Biesi, co-owner of Skull and Cakebones, a bakery near Austin, Texas that has been hosting Depressed Cake Shops every May for years. And we get Sascha’s own story of a life struggling with depression, bipolar losses, and devastating grief.

Both Sascha and Valerie also talk about the connection between mental illness, baking, art, and drawing people together.

Go to DepressedCakeShop.org to learn more, get involved, and bear witness to the cakes! Follow Depressed Cake Shop on Twitter @depressedcake, Instagram @depressedcakeshop, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DepressedCakeShop.

Visit the Skull & Cakebones website at www.skullandcakebones.com or visit the bakery at 3991 E Hwy 290 A, Unit A, Dripping Springs, Texas 78620.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The gut microbiome, that little ecosystems of bacteria and microorganisms in your body, and your mental health are more closely related than we may have thought. Dr. Aparna Church led a study that points out the connection between a person’s stress resilience and the composition of their gut microbiome. She joins us and offers advice on how to eat best for your own stress management. Then host John Moe thoroughly unpacks and demystified TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) therapy. He explains what it is, what the different types of it are, what actually happens when you go, how it works on your brain, and what kind of results to expect.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Anxiety has cost Jen Kirkman several things over the course of her life, including, as she explains in our conversation, a study abroad program in Amsterdam, an effective outcome of a fear of flying class, and a pleasant time on a Ferris wheel. She doesn’t even remember that trip on the Ferris wheel but she knows it happened from an old photo where she looks absolutely haunted. Among the other problems anxiety has caused is confusion in kindergarten about whether she actually had parents. Along the way, Jen has become a successful comedian, comedy writer, and best-selling author, known for her candid and often hilarious stories of her life and the situations she’s found herself in.

Jen is managing her anxiety now. She’s recognizing the cognitive distortions and relying on her own accumulated skills and experience to get through the moments and events that anxiety is intent on messing up.

Visit Jen Kirkman's website at www.jenkirkman.com. Subscribe and listen to the Anxiety Bites podcast and the No Fun podcast on the podcatcher of your choice. Follow Jen on Twitter @JenKirkman and on Instagram @jenkirkman.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Samantha Irby has visualized a lot of scenarios that get more than a little unnerving. The driver behind her gets so impatient with her driving that he runs her off the road, drags her out of her car, and then beats the crap out of her. In another imagining, she’s at an author event and someone has gone to the trouble of buying a ticket just to run up on stage and yell obscenities at her. I mean, these are terrifying scenarios but when she talks about them, you’ll find yourself laughing as much as she is, which is a lot. We talk about Samantha’s imagination, her recent OCD diagnosis, and why she left seventeen dollars in quarters at a highway tollbooth.

Samantha’s newest book, Quietly Hostile, is due out on Tuesday, May 16th. Pre-order your copy wherever books are sold. Learn more about Sam and her other books by visiting her website, www.SamanthaIrby.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

When we asked Dr. Darshan Mehta, Medical Director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine in Boston and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, about the image problem that meditation had, he knew exactly what we were talking about. As he points out, when media outlets write about meditation, it tends to be accompanied by a photo or illustration of a glowing, athletic white woman in a particular yoga pose. This tendency is kind of funny, sure, but it also conveys that unless you look like that, you can’t meditate.

Not so. Laura House, a comedian, writer, podcaster, and meditation instructor, explains that anyone can learn to meditate, reduce stress, and find more calm in their lives. It doesn’t necessitate any religious beliefs or New Age philosophy.

Dr. Mehta walks us through the medical side of it and how it helps blood pressure levels and recurrence of depression. It can also give your immune system help as it broadly reduces inflammation of cells and tissue.

Listen to Tiny Victories here or on the podcatcher of your choice. Visit Laura House's website and follow her on Twitter @imlaurahouse. Find out more about the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at their website here.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It’s not MaxFunDrive without a wild kickoff spectacular! Former real-life VJ and host of MTV's Spring Break 1999, Dave Holmes, takes your favorite MaxFun hosts through some wacky ‘90s- and Spring Break-themed mini games!!

Featuring: Dave Holmes, Jeremy Bent, Oscar Montoya, Dimitry Pompée, Tom Lum, Ellen Weatherford, Alex Schmidt, Brenda Snell, Drea Clark, Alonso Duralde, Dan McCoy, Jordan Morris, Manolo Moreno, Ella Hubber, Caroline Roper, Ella McLeod, John-Luke Roberts, Justin McElroy, Clint McElroy, Mike Cabellon, Sierra Katow, Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford, John Moe, Christian Dueñas, Christian Duguay.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The CBS News Sunday Morning commentator, Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me panelist, and veteran actor had all the approval and validation one could want early in her life. She was a pageant winner, Harvard grad, and Rhodes Scholar by the time she went to Los Angeles to make it in film and television. But the vagaries of the entertainment industry, the death of her mother, and an unsuccessful marriage showed her that there’s only so much you can prepare and study for. Faith talks about her experiences with anorexia, depression, and eventually finding love and family. We also discuss approval, specifically who you seek it from and why.

Get your copy of Faith Salie's book, Approval Junkie: My Heartfelt (And Occasionally Inappropriate) Quest to Please Just About Everyone, and Ultimately Myself, wherever books are sold. Listen to the Off-Broadway production of Approval Junkie on Audible. For more information, visit www.FaithSalie.com. Follow Faith Salie on Twitter @Faith_Salie and on Instagram @faithsalie.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

If you’ve listened to our show before, you know that we recommend a period of trial and error to find a mental health treatment that works best for you. Nothing works for everyone, after all, so you have to see what you respond to. Neal Brennan is the embodiment of that concept and in this interview he reports back on how well or poorly it went for him trying Freudian therapy, antidepressants, transcranial magnetic stimulation, a special kind of TMS available in China, ketamine, ayahuasca, 5 MeO-DMT, and other solutions. The good news: Neal’s mental health is doing much better than it had been.

The not-so-good news: he went through some mind-blowingly bad horrific experiences along the way.

Neal’s latest standup special, Blocks, is available now on Netflix.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It used to be that Jonathan Ames read and wrote all kinds of books. But somewhere along the line everything but detective novels kind of fell away and now that’s pretty much his thing. His big project these days is a detective series, featuring private eye Happy Doll, a 50-year-old Angeleno who tries to solve cases and not get killed in the process.

Ames says we relate to detective stories because we’re all constantly trying to solve our own mysteries. That’s hard in real life, to put it mildly. But when we know a book has 250 pages, we also know that by the time those pages are read, we will have some answers.

Get your copy of Jonathan Ames' latest book, The Wheel of Doll, out September 6th, 2022, wherever books are sold.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Maybe you’re one of those people who dreads even looking at the news these days, with stories of layoffs, tariffs, upheaval in foreign policy, and a lack of knowledge as to where this is all going and what it might mean for the future of America and the world. It’s a tumultuous time. When things are chaotic, it can be good to check in with one’s friends and that’s what Depresh Mode does this week. We have conversations of commiseration, of humor, and of hope with comedian and actor Paul F. Tompkins, pundit and writer Ana Marie Cox, and comic and author Gary Gulman.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Issues of depression and anxiety have been present in Open Mike Eagle's raps for a long time. His most played track on Spotify is "Ziggy Starfish (Anxiety Raps)" and it's from 2015. Mike has always been more prone to self-effacement and worry than to the boasting and swagger you might find in other hip-hop artists. But after a year that saw him lose his tv show, his touring income, his marriage, and his home, Mike became more open than ever before and hit record on all of it. His album, Anime, Trauma and Divorce, touches on his experiences and the psychological narratives of his life.

Listen to or buy your copy of Anime, Trauma, and Divorce here. Find out more about Open Mike Eagle, his music, tour dates, and his podcasts at his website, mikeeagle.net. Join his Patreon and follow him on Twitter @Mike_Eagle and Instagram @open_mike_eagle.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of MaximumFun.org

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It’s much easier to talk about the weather than it is about mental health. We all know this. Because it’s a lot easier to face the idea of a rainy day than the idea of a mental disorder that might last the rest of one’s life. Still, getting those conversations going with a friend, with a therapist or psychiatrist, or even with yourself is the best way to make the situation less scary and more easily managed.

After facing up to some tough issues in the wake of the end of her first marriage, public radio veteran Anna Sale became interested in our collective resistance to talk about touchy topics, like the three mentioned in her podcast’s title. Now she’s added family and identity to that list in her new book, Let’s Talk About Hard Things.

Anna talks about why mental health is one of those scary things to talk about that could benefit from the conversation. She also offers some insight on how to approach a difficult conversation you need to have for yourself. It’s a great episode for people looking to make talking about all this stuff less weird and more productive.

Get your copy of Let's Talk About Hard Things here or wherever books are sold. Visit Anna Sale's website here. Listen to Anna's podcast, Death, Sex & Money, here or wherever pods are cast. Follow Anna on Twitter @annasale and on Instagram @annasalepics.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It’s not actually all that hard to tell when Tim Heidecker is kidding and when he’s not, but it does take a little bit of practice. When he’s performing on shows like Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! or Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories, it’s comedy. When he acts in comedic movies, sure, that’s comedy as well. But on albums such as his new one, High School, you don’t need to listen carefully for the punchline because there isn’t one. He’s not trying to fake you out with his music, he’s giving it you straight as a singer/songwriter with a bit of a 1970’s sheen to it.

Tim says he’s never been diagnosed with depression but he’s had some rough times. He talks about losing close friends to drugs and alcohol and he talks about an incident several years ago when he got stabbed by someone he knew.

We talk to Tim about comedy, tragedy, and whether a clinical diagnosis of a particular disorder is really all that necessary when dealing with the dark parts of life.

Pre-order Tim Heidecker's new album High School, out June 24, 2022 on Spacebomb Records, here. For tour dates and more information, visit Tim's website at www.timheidecker.com. Follow Tim on Twitter @timheidecker and on TikTok @timheideckermusic.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Comedian, vlogger, author and podcast host Kelsey Darragh keeps a running inventory of the mental health challenges she’s faced and continues to deal with. There are a lot. But panic disorder, depression, and anxiety tend to be her big three. And she doesn’t have them all under  control all the time because, well, that’s not how it works. But she’s found that by talking about them and writing about them for herself and an audience, she can make a lot of progress and help people out. Kelsey had figured that comedy was going to be her path, somewhere along the Amy Schumer or Amy Poehler route, but when she started having the mental health conversations no one else was having, a new path was illuminated for her and one that she’s happy to be on. 

Visit Kelsey's website and Youtube channel. Get your copy of Kelsey's book, Don't F*cking Panic, here or wherever books are sold. Listen to Kelsey's podcast Confidently Insecure here, on her Youtube channel, or wherever podcasts are heard. Follow Kelsey on Twitter @kelseydarragh and on Instagram @kelseydarragh.

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Therapy isn’t about hating your mother. It’s not about crying over something that happened when you were six and then dwelling on it for the rest of your life. And the difficulty or trauma you faced back then is not something you can simply “get over” or “move past”.

Good therapy is much more like what Jackie Kashian did, as she describes in this episode. She talks about the violence in her home growing up. And the neglect. And the substance use and death of her mother. Then she talks about going to therapy and figuring out how that past informed her adult life, how it guided her decisions, and how it laid a foundation for the life she would live.

With that understanding in place, she could better distinguish between healthy and unhealthy habits. It’s not dwelling in the past, it’s getting a map for the future.

Listen to Jackie Kashian's podcasts, The Jackie and Laurie Show and The Dork Forest on the podcatcher of your choice. For tour dates, visit Jackie's website, JackieKashian.com. Follow her on Twitter @jackiekashian.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Aparna Nancherla’s new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome, covers a lot of mental health territory, much of which she talks about in this interview. Despite being an accomplished comedian and actor, thus having no reason to suffer from impostor syndrome, she still does, because that particular phenomena is impervious to logic. Nor does her success keep away perfectionism, dysthymic depression, or anxiety. In her book and in conversation, Aparna doesn’t go for the easy laugh, instead finding a deeper sort of humor brought about by insight into what it’s like to live with mental health conditions on an ongoing basis. She also talks about her decision to step away from standup comedy for several years and why she has returned.

Unreliable Narratordrops tomorrow, September 19th, 2023! Get your copy wherever books are sold. Learn more about Aparna, her work, and her coming tour dates by visiting her website, www.AparnaComedy.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

A good day for Michael Landsberg goes up to about a seven but not really any higher than that. His mood doesn’t raise up to an eight, nine, or ten due to the medication he takes for his longstanding major depressive disorder. But Michael’s low days don’t go below a four thanks to the same medication. It’s a bargain that Landsberg is comfortable with. We also discuss Landsberg’s discovery of his own depression and anxiety, how he’s treated it, and whether the fight against stigma is going well.

Learn more about #SickNotWeak, the charity founded by Michael and his daughter by visiting www.SickNotWeak.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Amos Lee has a wonderfully smooth singing voice and plays the acoustic guitar beautifully. And if you never paid attention to his lyrics, you might even find his music to soothing and mellow. If you do lean into his lyrics a little and if you open yourself up to his tone and phrasing, you will soon find references to pain, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and trauma. This is especially the case on Amos’s upcoming album, Dreamland. He says he’s more comfortable talking about that side of himself now than on the other seven albums he’s released dating back to 2005.

In this interview, Amos shares plenty, including how he went from being a second grade teacher named Ryan Massaro to being a musical sensation named Amos Lee pretty much in one night. We also hear about a pivotal mental health crisis in college that realigned his priorities and how he made a woman in hospice dance when she didn’t think she wanted to.

Visit Amos Lee's website and listen to Shoulda Known Better and Worry No More at www.amoslee.com. Follow Amos on Twitter @amoslee and Instagram @am0slee.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

“Every time I’m on the sidewalk, I want to step into the road,” sings Lydia Loveless on her new song “Runaway.”
“Let this Kia flatten me cause I don’t want to come home.”

It’s a set of lyrics that packs a wallop but one that she laughs about in our interview. Lydia is in a pretty good place right now, anticipating the release of her new album, Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again and with her depression under pretty good control at the moment. But she says that depression and thoughts of suicide have been with her since childhood and throughout some tough times with relationships and a record label.

Pre-order your copy of Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again, out September 22nd, 2023, wherever records are sold. For more information about Lydia Loveless, tour dates, music, and merch, visit her website, www.LydiaLoveless.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It’s not that Dr. Pooja Lakshmin has something against scented candles. In fact, she thinks they can be quite pleasant. It’s just that purchasing candles or bubble baths or winery tours are not really self-care, they’re just consumerism. This is indicated in the title of her book, Real Self Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included). Dr. Lakshmin says a more satisfying and beneficial approach to self-care has four principles: boundaries, compassion, values, and power.

Dr. Pooja Lakshmin

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

As a big player in the recording industry, Shanti Das provided a lot of help in bringing artists like Usher, OutKast, and TLC to national audiences. Ultimately, she needed a lot of help herself and left her high profile career behind to work on her own mental health. Shanti went through a dark time in the early to mid-2010s, with the loss of her sister and the death by suicide of her best friend, and she was considering suicide. Then some things went her way, including a chance encounter with a friend at home goods store, some sage advice from Rev. Raphael Warnock, and good therapy. Today, Shanti Das runs Silence the Shame, a nonprofit advocating for mental health.

You can read more about Silence the Shame at https://silencetheshame.com

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Therapy is not a competition. You can’t defeat other clients or come in first place. Still, there is such a thing as getting better at going to therapy. There are ways to get the most out of that valuable hour or so you get with a professional. And for that, we turn to professional therapist, author, and podcaster Lori Gottlieb, who offers some plain-spoken advice on building a great relationship, not expecting the depictions you see in movies and on television, and why people generally don’t lie down during sessions.

Get your copy of Lori Gottlieb's book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, wherever books are sold. Find out more about Lori by visiting her website, www.LoriGottlieb.com.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The Decemberists have been making memorable, popular, and critically acclaimed music for over twenty years and for that entire time, lead singer and songwriter Colin Meloy has battled the feeling that he’s secretly a fraud. And the more success he’s had with his career, the more he’s been at the head of a large organization upon which people earn their livelihood, the more that feeling grew. Colin hasn’t gone into much detail about this interviews over the years but he does so in this honest and vulnerable conversation that also touches on his long-standing issues with anxiety and the formative challenge of a parent who discouraged him from pursuing the arts as a profession.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Forming emotional bonds with fellow human beings is one of the most basic instincts we have. There’s a primal urge to attach yourself to others, for safety, for mating purposes, or hell just to have lunch. But just because that desire is present doesn’t mean that it’s easy or even inevitable to actually form those connections. 

At the same time, we’re all going to spend some time alone. Maybe in brief moments, maybe for very long stretches. 

Comedian, actor, and writer Lane Moore thinks about these things a lot. She is perhaps best known for Tinder Live, a touring series of live shows where she checks out profiles of men looking for connections and provides live commentary and live swiping before an audience. She finds that most people are pretty nice, honest people but that some of them do some pretty weird stuff. Stuff like posing for their profile pictures while covered in blood, naked, next to a deer they killed. Or being naked except for a strategically placed top hat. 

She tours with the show a lot but has also given quite a bit of thought to the other side of the coin and has written a book titled “How To Be Alone.”

Lane shares her thoughts on all this plus living with complex post-traumatic stress disorder in a deeply personal conversation that’s valuable if you’ve ever been alone or with someone else. Which covers everyone, I’m pretty sure.

Also, stick around after the main interview for a meditation minute with our pal Laura House.

Visit Lane's website at lanemoore.org or her Linktree at linktr.ee/hellolanemoore for tour dates, her book, and more. Follow Lane on Twitter @hellolanemoore and on Instagram @hellolanemoore. 

Understanding Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: https://www.healthline.com/health/cptsd

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

What’s it really like to get ketamine treatment? The brilliant writer Jenny Lawson (Broken, Furiously Happy) walks us through her experiences with the drug, how it made her feel when she was in the thick of it, why she sometimes felt like an atom floating in the endless void of space, and whether it’s been effective for her ongoing treatment-resistant depression. She also talks about being a bookstore owner and how, despite ADHD, OCD, and that same depression, she’s been able to read entire books in one sitting.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.
 

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

When our society and our entire culture gets behind a cause, we can really make a difference. And it’s happened before. Back in the day, littering made public spaces look awful but we got together and did something about it. We created an owl mascot and, more directly, changed our way of thinking. We got together on causes like smoking and drunk driving and while those problems have not been eradicated, we got better. Back then, mental health and the stigma around it did not receive the same treatment and the cultural representation was more about cartoon depictions of straight jackets and padded rooms. But the tide has finally turned, society has woken up to mental health, and we’re tackling it in a variety of ways from, as described in this episode, eccentric stickers to athlete statements to political bipartisanship. This awareness comes at a good time as we’re fighting a societal mental health crisis.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It’s not really the most direct route to comedy success: grow up in conservative Mormon Utah, be closeted about your sexuality even to yourself, try to live up to what is expected of you, ditch it all for show biz, come out of the closet, and then make it big. But we know it’s worked for at least one person: Bridger Winegar. The host of the I Said No Gifts podcasts walks us through his effort to figure out who he was, which included a long stretch of figuring he’d have to keep his homosexuality shielded for the rest of his life. We hear about a Mormon mission to Malaysia that ended very prematurely with a nervous breakdown, an offer to get treatment in a Singapore mental hospital, and a return to Utah. And we hear about the extraordinary support and kindness he received from his boss when his boss happened to be Jimmy Kimmel.

Listen to I Said No Gifts on the podcatcher of your choice.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

When a loved one dies, the world can become chaos. Everything has changed. The way you drive a car, the way food tastes, the way you even talk to people can feel different and wrong and weird. It feels like you are - for lack of a better term - going crazy. How far apart are grief and mental illness? The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), the standard reference for mental illness, says that if you’re still messed up from grief six months after the death of your person, you have something called Prolonged Grief Disorder.

For Megan Devine, an author and psychotherapist who specializes in grief, the sudden loss of her partner Matt meant being at the grocery store and temporarily forgetting how money worked. But she says that’s not a problem. That’s a truthful response to a horrifying event. That’s just being horrified.

Megan rejects the idea that being upset for as long as you need to be is a problem. She advocates recognizing the personal truth and reality of what’s going on inside yourself. 

Megan’s website Refuge in Grief - https://refugeingrief.com/

Our previous episode with Stephanie Wittels Wachs, which gets referenced a lot - https://maximumfun.org/episodes/depresh-mode/stephanie-wittels-wachs-and-the-pain-and-frustration-of-watching-addiction-happen/

Get your copy of Megan's books, How to Carry What Can't be Fixed: A Journal for Grief and It's OK That You're Not OK here or wherever books are sold. Follow Megan on Twitter @refugeingrief and on Instagram @refugeingrief.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Most people have pictures of themselves at a younger age, maybe even a couple moderately embarrassing home videos kicking around. In Connor Franta’s case, he has a vast library of often deeply personal videos on YouTube spanning half his life that are regularly watched by over five million subscribers. And yes, plenty of those videos, especially when he was a lot younger, make him cringe a lot today.

But these records also trace the path of a young man growing up, facing then sharing the truth about his homosexuality, and eventually confronting some long-standing mental health issues having to do with depression and anxiety. The Connor that appears in recent videos, now almost 30 years old, is wiser and more mature and very honest about the mental health journey he’s still on. And he’s branched out from YouTube into best-selling books, entrepreneurial projects, and public speaking.

Visit Connor Franta's Youtube page. Get your copy of Connor's latest book House Fires wherever books are sold. Follow Connor on Twitter @connorfranta and on Instagram @connorfranta.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

If you’ve ever been in a therapist’s office, you may have had the thought, “What if it was me sitting in that other chair? What if I was the therapist?”

And then you might have wondered what that would actually involve and what it would feel like to be that other person with the sympathetic expression.

Well, we’ve wondered that too and we decided to do something about it. We called up Lori Gottlieb, a practicing therapist and author of the best selling book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone to ask her about the process of becoming a therapist, what has surprised her about the profession, and what skills she has needed the most. We also spoke to Andrea Kremer, a newly-minted therapist and member of our Preshies group on Facebook about her experiences and the lessons she has learned.

Maybe after this episode you’ll want to be a therapist too. Or maybe not. Regardless, let’s explore those feelings.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

There is a lot to grieve in the world right now. We can look to the horrific events in the Middle East. We can look to other hot spots around the world where there is no shortage of death and suffering. We can look closer to home at the pandemic that took over a million American lives. Do we take it on with full deep empathy? Do we get overwhelmed by the magnitude and tune out entirely? Megan Devine, a therapist, author, and podcast host, says the human mind wasn’t designed to deal with all that our modern world sometimes demands of it. But she says we can respond with compassion and recognize the grief that is upon us.

Megan Devine’s website - https://refugeingrief.com/

Megan’s podcast - https://refugeingrief.com/meganspodcasts/

Megan’s book - https://refugeingrief.com/book/

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It's the Max Fun Drive and we are so glad to have your support! In this special mini-episode, host John Moe talks about how important you are to the show we make and the work we do. Hear about the events that led to John's deeper understanding of how exactly mental health works and why mutual support matters so very much.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

In the entire 321-year history of Yale University, the most popular class ever is a relatively new one called “Psychology and the Good Life”, taught by Dr. Laurie Santos. Since it’s debut in 2018, it has proved to be so much in demand that Yale now offers a version of the class for free online to anyone in the world.

Part of the appeal is that Dr. Santos is a really great professor. She’s smart, presents lessons in a compelling way. But beyond that, the class holds appeal because so many people these days are not happy at all, with college students reporting depression and anxiety in numbers that are astronomical and terrifying. This trend was happening before the pandemic and has only gotten worse since.

In this interview, Dr. Santos, who also hosts the podcast The Happiness Lab, talks about what happier people have in common and how to implement practices in your own life to start doing better. Importantly, this isn’t a recipe for suddenly being a character in a musical comedy, jumping and singing for joy all the time. That’s unrealistic and frankly a bit gross. But students who learn from her teachings report an incremental uptick in their levels of happiness, laying the foundation for better times ahead.

Helpful Links:

Paul Rudd goofing around to the Partridge Family in Ant Man and The Wasp: youtube.com/watch?v=LzXywwT9fI0
The Worry About Yourself Video: youtu.be/4A6Bu96ALOw
The Science of Well-Being course on Coursera: coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being
Dr. Santos at the Aspen Ideas Festival: youtube.com/watch?v=ZizdB0TgAVM

Listen to Dr. Laurie Santos' podcast, The Happiness Lab, wherever fine pods are cast. Learn more about Dr. Santos' Yale course, Psychology and the Good Life, by vising her website at DrLaurieSantos.com. Follow Dr. Santos on Twitter @lauriesantos and on Instagram @lauriesantosofficial.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Human Resources, a spinoff of the Netflix show Big Mouth, is a very honest, truthful, and illuminating program about how mental and emotional health operate. It’s well-researched and displays depth and accuracy. And all of that might be surprising given that it’s full of extremely horny monsters, panicky mosquitoes, ambition gremlins and a ton of other cartoon creatures. And just so much extremely graphic talk about sex and bodily functions. So much, you guys. But the show is smart and anyone who has dealt with a mental health obstacle might spot something relatable in the show. We’re joined by Nick Kroll, co-creator of the show, and Brandon Kyle Goodman, a writer and consultant on it, both of whom also act in Human Resources. We find out how they took some fairly abstract mental health notions and turned them into cartoon characters.

Watch Human Resources on Netflix on March 18th and watch Big Mouth now. Follow Nick Kroll and Brandon Kyle Goodman on Twitter @nickkroll and @brandonkgood. Follow Nick on Instagram @nickkroll and check out Brandon Kyle Goodman's Messy Mondays at his Instagram @brandonkylegoodman.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Right now, in Jamie Loftus’s childhood home in Brockton, Mass., there are dozens, maybe hundreds of notebooks in storage boxes. They’re from second grade up through middle school and each of the notebooks is filled, cover to cover, with detailed descriptions of where she was and what was happening: who was there, what were they wearing, what was on the walls. The descriptions are all written in a shorthand Jamie developed and that no one else could read. At the time, the adults in her life thought this indicated that she was a budding reporter. But no, it was obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Over time, her OCD would evolve into self-harm and put her in the emergency room. That’s where she found a doctor who understood her and could help.

Today, Jamie stays aware of her OCD tendency as she experiences a booming career in comedy and, yes, journalism, through her stage performances and podcasts. She says that she’s able to better control the same world that used to be so much more chaotic.

Find out more about Jamie Loftus's podcasts, comedy, videos, and writing on her website JamieLoftus.xyz. Follow Jamie on Twitter @jamieloftusHELP and on Instagram @jamiechristsuperstar.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

When you’ve had an HBO comedy special, starred in an off-Broadway show, made a million TV appearances, and headlined comedy clubs all over the country, the next move is not generally to apply to grad school to become a therapist or social worker. But that’s what Chris Gethard found himself doing after his incredibly stressful career hit some hard stumbling blocks and he was faced with the issue of how best to take care of his young family (including himself) and provide things like health insurance. Before he could enroll, Chris got an opportunity to work with a non-profit to build a program promoting mental health through comedy and improv. Chris made radical changes and says he’s in a better place.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Allison Raskin has been attempting to manage her obsessive compulsive disorder for most of her life. It’s meant knowing when she can be home to take a shower during the day. It’s meant not being able to pet a friendly dog she met because even though she adores dogs, the thought of contamination was too overwhelming. She’s treated her OCD to help get the symptoms more under control but it’s a daily challenge to manage things.

Allison is pretty honest about that and other struggles on the very popular Just Between Us, the YouTube comedy and conversation series she co-hosts with creative partner Gaby Dunn. Recently, however, all of her efforts to have a normal, stable life have been put to the test, first by the pandemic and also by the abrupt end of her engagement last fall to the man she figured she’d be with forever.

Subscribe to the Just Between Us Youtube channel and listen to the Just Between Us podcast on the podcatcher of your choice. Visit Allison's website, follow her on Instagram @AllisonRaskin and on Twitter @AllisonRaskin. Follow her mental health account @emotionalsupportlady and support her Patreon here.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

The singer, songwriter, guitarist, and acclaimed author John Darnielle is one of the more prolific creative forces you’re likely to run across. He’s released 20 full-length studio albums, plus a mess of EPs, tapes, and singles over his 25-plus years of recording. And he’s written three novels in recent years as well.

In this interview, John talks about his interest in written material about violence and horror and what he thinks might be behind society’s stronger than ever fascination with true crime. We also hear about his experiences on drugs, his need to get off drugs to avoid going to prison, and his modern relationship with wine at parties, which has a connection to his lifelong relationship with anxiety. 

Learn about a nervous party experience with John Hodgman and why he also makes sure to have lunch with John Hodgman at every opportunity, even if he has a full schedule. Yep, John Darnielle, in conversation with John Moe, talks about John Hodgman. So many Johns. It’s a Johnslaught. They form a Johntourage. 

OH AND ALSO it’s the very beginning of our annual MAX FUN DRIVE! Now is your chance to support Depresh Mode so it can keep happening!

To entice you, we are offering:

• The satisfaction of helping make this show, which helps people, possible!
• Access to SLEEPING WITH CELEBRITIES, our star-studded sleep aid mega-episode! It features beloved voices like John Hodgman, Peter Sagal, Janet Varney, Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn, and more talking about the most boring stuff imaginable. You can put it on, let it soothe you with it’s lack of drama and surprises, and drift off to sleep! 
• A one-of-a-kind Depresh Mode patch featuring Oops Nope, our official Depresh Mode mascot!
• Hats, messenger bags, and so much more!
• Go to maximumfun.org/join, find a level that works for you, and join us RIGHT NOW! Exclamation points!

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

(takes a moment to secure tongue firmly in cheek)

It would be rude to make fun of Josh Gondelman just because he’s a little strange. Or not strange. Instead, we’re going to learn from Josh about his career, his life, and how, even though he’s very bad at dancing he does it anyway. Then our pal comedian Gary Gulman for a response to what we heard. Gary is arguably the king of depressed comedy, having taken off the issue in his special The Great Depresh.

Follow Josh Gondelman and Gary Gulman on Twitter @joshgondelman and @GaryGulman. Visit JoshGondelman.com and GaryGulman.com for tour dates, books, and more.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It was two years into a vicious cycle of depression and Mike Doughty was falling apart. He was taking more Ambien than he had been prescribed, importing huge boxes of the stuff from India, waking up to find packs of cigarettes, candy wrappers, and pizza boxes with no memory of leaving his Memphis home to make such purchases. He was convinced something was deeply wrong with his heart even though every doctor said there wasn’t. Finally, he checked into an in-patient facility that turned out to be wonderful and productive. Then he checked out. Then Mike, a recovering addict, started drinking heavily and smoking weed. Then he checked back in again. Mike Doughty is showing improvement now and talks about his treatment, his recovery, and touring again with his band Soul Coughing again 24 years after a bitter breakup.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on X @johnmoe.
 

MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.