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As far as Dana Gould could tell, he had been awake for 11 days. He logically knows that this was probably medically impossible but even if he had slept, he had no memory of doing so, which is pretty significant right there. This incident and the hospitalization that followed it is just one part of Dana’s mental health journey.  He talks about growing up in a family where alcohol was a strong presence and a comedy industry where drugs were everywhere but Dana didn’t drink or use drugs. Dana also shares the story of being on stage for a standup comedy set and having a debilitating panic attack on stage and relates what fatherhood has taught him.  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 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.

To celebrate our journey into triple digit episode numbers, we take a look back at episodes that have really stayed with us. They’re not even necessarily our favorite, mind you. It’s not that we think they’re so much better than all the rest. They’re just some episodes that come to mind pretty quickly. Discussed on this show: Depression, Anxiety, and Devil Horns: Chelsea Ursin Saves Her Soul with Rock n’ Roll Amanda Knox on the Difference Between Exoneration and Freedom The Beautiful World of Mentally Nutritious Video Games Jamie Lee Curtis: Self-Professed Dope Fiend of Show-off Business Jackie Kashian Did What You Should Do Kevin Love: All-Star in the NBA and in Destigmatization Shane Koyczan Says Sometimes “Bullying” Is Just Assault The Surgeon General Wants Your Boss To Build You a Healthier Workplace The Whimsy and Depth of Depressed Cake Shop Household Chores, Struggle Care, and Your Mental Health 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.

The Greek gods, as depicted in Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus series, are far from stately and dignified. Indeed, they’re neurotic, depressed, and anxious. They’re gossipy and bitter and nasty and petty sometimes. Probably some legit mental disorders banging around, some trauma likely in there as well. In other words, they’re pretty human. Rachel Smythe tells us why mythology has always spoken so deeply to her, what she learned from being a social pariah in school, and how she’s handling international fame and being a number one New York Times best-selling author. Along the way, we talk about  making art and depression and ADHD and night terrors. And trauma. And being a workaholic. Get your copies of Rachel Smythe's Lore Olympus books and pre-order Volume 4 wherever books are sold. Read Lore Olympus online at Webtoon.com or on the Webtoon app. Follow Rachel on Twitter @used_bandaid and on Instagram @usedbandaid. 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.

It was pretty simple in comedian and writer Zach Zimmerman’s mind when he was a kid: you had to accept Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior or you would spend all eternity being tortured in the fiery pits of Hell. And he wanted to do that accepting. Problem was, God never spoke to young Zach or gave him any indication that he was saved. No revelatory ecstatic church service or voice from beyond to give Zach a sign, just constant doubt and terror. And that can mess someone up. Zach struggled for years with depression and anxiety. His mental health took a further hit when a close friend was killed in what was the largest mass shooting in American history at the time. Zach got to college at Princeton and in short order figured out that he was atheist and vegetarian and that the guys playing volleyball shirtless outside his dorm were pretty darn attractive. Now a successful author, Zach has received good therapy and can reflect on the experiences that formed his frame of mind. Preorder your copy of Zach's book, Is It Hot in Here (or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth)?, due April 18, 2023, wherever books are sold. For tour dates and more information about Zach, visit his website www.Zach-Zimmerman.com. Follow Zach on Twitter @zzdoublezz. 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.

Enjoy the debut episode of John Moe's new sleep-aid podcast Sleeping with Celebrities and be sure to subscribe! Andy Daly is a comedian, actor, and podcaster. He starred on the Comedy Central series “Review” and was a supporting actor on HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” as well as a cast member on “MadTV.” Like many people, Andy has a yard at his home and is thus charged with the task of taking care of it. To do this, he sets aside about half a day per week, although that day varies because Andy’s weekly schedule is somewhat erratic. Andy Daly’s yard has some day lilies, which he does not particularly enjoy, and some olive trees. Andy likes olives but finds the process of turning an olive from his own tree into an olive he can eat to be pretty challenging because it turns out it takes several steps. Once when he was a boy, his parents gave him some olives as a birthday present because they knew how much he liked olives and they thought it would be funny. Andy didn’t think it was all that funny but they gave him other gifts too so don’t worry. He thinks it would be hard to kill someone with a weed whacker but he’s willing to speculate on how that might happen. He hopes you sleep well and have pleasant dreams. Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber? Email us at:  sleepwithcelebs@maximumfun.org. Follow the Show on: Instagram @sleepwcelebs Twitter @SleepWithCelebs TikTok @SleepWithCelebs John is on Twitter @johnmoe. John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

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.

The title of KC Davis’s book paints a pretty vivid picture of what her work is about: How To Keep House While Drowning, subtitled “a gentle approach to cleaning and organizing.” KC, a therapist and podcaster, specializes in helping people who have dealt with mental disorders, trauma, postpartum, and other issues but who are still faced with piles of laundry and dishes that need to be addressed. She joins us on a room by room tour of an imagined house to figure out how to take on care tasks while caring for yourself. Get your copy of How To Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing wherever books are sold. Learn more about KC at her website, www.StruggleCare.com and listen to her podcast, Struggle Care with KC Davis, wherever fine pods are cast. Follow KC on Instagram @strugglecare. 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.

In many ways, Christian Finnegan’s earlier career path made a lot more sense given the path he has traveled. He went to NYU, tried and then dropped acting, and then set out to be a very serious writer and artist. He worked in publishing and fancied a career where his writing would be at the center of his work, possibly as a monologist but never as a stand-in-front-of-a-brick-wall comedian. The serious path would make sense given that Christian reached he has experienced some serious stuff: the death of both his older brother and his younger brother, a mother who was unstable and dealing with some mental health issues, an alcoholic father.  Whether it’s despite the difficult times he had or maybe because of them, Christian did enter the world of standup comedy where he’s been performing for many years, in specials on Amazon, on several comedy albums and on shows like Best Week Ever, Conan, and The Today Show. He has acted on Chappelle’s Show and The Good Wife.  Watch Christian Finnegan's newest stand-up special, Show Your Work, on Amazon Prime. 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.

Chris Walla’s life today is very different from where it has been in the past. The musician and producer isn’t in the Pacific Northwest, for instance, where he grew up and lived for many years. He’s in Trondheim, Norway, where he is putting down roots and continues to compose and produce. And while that happens, Death Cab for Cutie, the band he co-founded in the 1990s, is in the midst of a 71-stop international tour. In this interview, Chris talks about music instructors and academic experiences that didn’t quite kill his love of making music. He weighs the thrill of playing music with his friends to the painful drudgery of touring and the experience of losing connection with the songs. And he details his struggles with depression, alcohol, and, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the nagging feeling that people don’t really want to hear what he makes. Learn more about Chris Walla and his Seattle recording studio by visiting HallOfJusticeRecording.com. Listen to Chris Walla's music on the streaming service of your choice. Follow Chris on Twitter @calculizer. 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.

Veteran podcaster Lauren Ober suspected something was up and that it went beyond covid stress and professional stress and all the other reasons she had been going to therapy for so long. She had been a journalist for many years and her instinct for the story led her to start piecing together that the life she had been experiencing all this time fit the profile of autism. Well spoiler alert, she tested and found out that, yeah, she’s on the autism spectrum. Then it was a matter of finding therapy that took into her account her neurodivergent brain so she could make some progress. We talk with Lauren about her mental health and her neurological condition. And we talk with Finn Gratton, a therapist who is autistic and who works with a lot of clients who are as well. They discuss the issue of masking, pretending to not be neurodivergent in a world designed for the neurotypical, and why they don’t believe autism is a disorder. Listen to Lauren Ober's podcast, The Loudest Girl in the World, wherever fine pods are cast. Learn more about Lauren by visiting OberandOut.com. Follow Lauren on Twitter @OberandOut and Instagram @oberandout. Learn more about Finn Gratton and their work by visiting GrattonPsychotherapy.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.

Kate Beaton’s new book, Ducks, is not about ducks. At least not really. It’s about people, specifically Kate and the people she worked with during a two-year period after finishing university, working in the remote oil sands region of northern Alberta, Canada. The camps at the oil sands housed hundreds of employees and they were not an easy place to be, filled with depression, broken marriages, and rampant substance use. Kate was one of only a handful of women working at the oil sands, a fact that introduced a number of other problems. Get your copy of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands wherever books are sold. 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.

It’s easy to assume that the life of Paulina Porizkova has always been an easy one. Most people first knew her as an internationally famous model, posing on the covers of fashion magazines and Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. She married a rock star, Ric Ocasek of The Cars, whom she met while filming a music video for the band. Seems like the sweetest life possible, right? Well, not so fast. Paulina tells stories in this interview that show another story. She was orphaned in Czechoslovakia at age three when her parents fled to Sweden, left with her grandmother, then torn away from her grandmother at age nine to be reunited with her parents in Sweden just as their marriage was collapsing. She talks about being a teenage model in Paris, not knowing that what was happening was sexual harassment or assault. And she tells the story of her marriage to and divorce from the late Ric Ocasek, who left her out of his will. Not so glamorous, really. Get your copy of Paulina Porizkova's memoir No Filter: The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful wherever books are sold. Follow Paulina on Instagram and Twitter @paulinaporizkova and @paulinaporizkova. 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.

Honestly, I really expected to call this episode “Covid Sedaris” because David Sedaris had just tested positive for COVID when we taped the interview. But when we spoke, he wasn’t feeling it much at all. Had some symptoms that might have been allergies or COVID but were barely noticeable. Other people have it a lot worse, he says. David has been delighting audiences for 30 years now, ever since the broadcast of Santaland Diaries. His latest book, Happy-Go-Lucky, is deceptively titled, containing a lot of stories and memories that are pretty painful. David’s father died last year at age 98 and liberated David to share some things he hasn’t shared so openly before. He talks about how his father ridiculed him, belittled him, and just flat out didn’t like him. He shares the story of being invited to give the commencement address at Princeton and bringing along his dad, who told the university president that they should have booked his sister Amy Sedaris instead. David also shares stories of his sister Tiffany, who died by suicide in 2013. He’s caught heat over the years for writing and talking about how difficult it was for him to deal with her when she was at her most unstable. He also talks about the charges of abuse Tiffany made against David and their father before he died. There are still plenty of laughs in the interview because, come on, it’s David Sedaris, but there’s also pain and melancholy that you might not have heard from him before. Get your copy of David Sedaris’ Happy-Go-Lucky wherever books are sold. 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.

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.

It’s that time of year when tv commercials and store decorations implore you to feel merry and jolly (words we only use this time of year). And if you do feel that way without any complications or nuance, well, good on ya. But for people who live with depression, anxiety, problematic stress reactions, this season can be a real minefield. We’re joined this week by two therapists who are also friends of the show. Dr. Ksera Dyette talks about strategy come holiday time and how to protect yourself from toxic or problematic family members as you head into those visits. Megan Devine takes on the subject of grief and she has some notes of constructive criticism on the option of “I’ll just get super drunk and feel nothing.” Learn more about Dr. Ksera Dyette by visiting her website, www.cupofteacounselling.org. Follow Dr. Dyette on her Instagram @cteacounselling and on TikTok @drdyette. Learn more about Megan Devine and get your copy of her book, It's OK That You're Not OK by visiting her website, www.refugeingrief.com. Listen to Megan's podcast, Here After with Megan Devine, wherever fine podcasts are found. 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.

It wasn’t until her late twenties that Ellen Forney noticed that her friends couldn’t really keep up with her. Ellen had boundless energy that took the form of dancing for long stretches at home, smoking a lot of pot, vibrating with intense sexuality, and latching on to new friends who were just as unrelentingly intense as she was. But to Ellen, this was just her living her best life. It wasn’t until these episodes were followed by intense, debilitating crashes of depression that she thought something might be wrong here. A psychiatrist walked her through the various symptoms of bipolar disorder and, despite a heap of early denial, Ellen arrived at an understanding that this was a condition she had. From there, it was a long road of treatments to get her stable. Ellen Forney tells her story and the plan she developed for herself and others to take care of mental health. It involves a monster named Smedmerts (she is a cartoonist so of course she drew Smedmerts), whose name is a helpful acronym. Get your copy of Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life, as well as Marbles and Ellen's other books, by visiting her website, EllenForney.com. Follow Ellen on Twitter @ellen_forney and on Instagram @ellen_forney. 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.

There is no shortage of self-help books in the world positing that the human mind can be explained, that there is a tidy order to things and a discernible reason why everything happens. These are books that claim to have answers. Rachel Aviv’s new book, Strangers to Ourselves, goes in the opposite direction. Through a series of profiles, she presents people and their behavior that defy easy explanations and who produce more questions than answers. Does Ray represent the triumph of medication over talk therapy or is his story more complex? Is Bapu experiencing religious ecstasy or schizophrenia? Ultimately, Rachel Aviv shows how any understanding of a person with a mental disorder shouldn’t begin and end with a one-word diagnosis because there are so many stories to be told. Get your copy of Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us wherever books are sold. Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachelAviv. Read Rachel's most recent pieces for The New Yorker by going to: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/rachel-aviv 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.

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.

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.

Kristin Hersh is an acclaimed and accomplished musician and songwriter through her solo work and as part of the bands Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave. When Kristin Hersh was young, her father, Dude (that’s what everyone calls him), taught her some basic chords on the guitar. And that was fine but to Kristin, Dude was just showing her the red, blue, and green chords whereas she wanted to learn, like turquoise, burgundy, and magenta chords. Synesthesia has always been part of Kristin’s approach to music, she sees sound as color. Another more alarming aspect of her music was that for many years she didn’t really remember performing. She was mentally present between songs and all the rest of her day but when it came time to play the song, it was like someone else was doing it while Kristin just went... elsewhere. We talk about those phenomena as well as trauma, car accidents, babies, misdiagnosed bipolar disorder, and her journey of mental health discovery. Kristin’s web site  - https://www.kristinhersh.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: 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.