Todd Glass has been in the comedy game for a long time, dating back to the eighties, so he’s had time to figure out how he wants his life and his work to go. Todd makes sure the right music is playing in the club as people come in, sees to it that no TVs are on in the bar, and generally tries to make his world tidy. Does this make him obsessive? Compulsive? Disordered? Well, Todd doesn’t really go for the OCD label because he thinks it’s more complicated and nuanced than that and because he’s a ...
Apr 08, 2024•50 min•Ep. 153
Leah Rudick is playing to sold out theaters on her comedy tours and stars in her own special, Spiraling, on Amazon Prime, thanks in large part to her massive following on TikTok and other social media platforms. So does that success help her lifelong struggle with anxiety? Well, kind of, yeah! It feels good. But achievement isn’t a cure for anxiety and it’s still something that Leah has to manage on an ongoing basis. Part of that is being aware of her people pleasing tendencies and learning how ...
Apr 01, 2024•43 min•Ep. 152
In this special edition of Depresh Mode, host John Moe gets up and moves to the other chair, becoming the ones answering the questions for once. He's joined by actual listeners who volunteered as guest hosts in a probing and thoughtful conversation. John has been hosting mental health podcasts for many years, has written a book (The Hilarious World of Depression) on the subject, and has traveled the country speaking to groups about issues like depression, trauma, anxiety, and more. Learn what go...
Mar 28, 2024•6 min
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 b...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 151
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 w...
Mar 21, 2024•25 min
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 ” Jo...
Mar 18, 2024•16 min
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...
Mar 18, 2024•58 min•Ep. 150
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 sk...
Mar 11, 2024•52 min•Ep. 149
Kari Faux is an acclaimed rapper originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, which is a place she returned to after several years of not loving life in Los Angeles. She later judged her situation and decided things would be better living in Houston so she moved there. These decisions are examples of the thoughtful approach she takes to a lot of issues in her life, including how to deal with a family member at the center of a problematic relationship. Kari details the boundaries she has set and the ef...
Mar 04, 2024•49 min•Ep. 148
It was 2003 and Paul Gilmartin, one time host of TV’s Dinner and a Movie , was presented with an ultimatum by his psychiatrist: either do something to address your alcohol and drug addiction or I can’t really work with you anymore. Besides substance use issues, Paul had been dealing with intense suicidal ideation, major depressive disorder and the trauma of an alcoholic father and a mother engaged in covert incest. He was a mess. Finally, he reached out to support groups for his issues and broke...
Feb 26, 2024•47 min•Ep. 147
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...
Feb 19, 2024•37 min•Ep. 146
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...
Feb 12, 2024•51 min•Ep. 145
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 gett...
Feb 05, 2024•38 min•Ep. 144
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...
Jan 29, 2024•45 min•Ep. 143
Devendra Banhart thinks it would be easier if the nagging, negative, self-critical voice he keeps hearing in his mind was actually angry, actually yelled at him. Then he could dismiss it easier. As it is, the voice is gentle and calm, telling Devendra that he sucks and always will, which makes it more persuasive and harder to shake off. In this far-ranging interview, Devendra talks about that voice, how he puts music together, his long estranged biological father and the legacy he left, and also...
Jan 22, 2024•54 min•Ep. 142
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 as...
Jan 15, 2024•48 min•Ep. 141
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...
Jan 08, 2024•40 min•Ep. 140
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 ...
Jan 01, 2024•55 min•Ep. 139
You don’t have to listen all that deeply into the song catalog of singer-songwriter Noah Kahan to hear mention of mental health themes. It’s an important topic for Noah in his own life, which has involved struggles with depression, anxiety, and body dysmorphia. And because mental health is important in Noah’s life, it shows up a lot in his intensely personal, vulnerable, and revealing music. Growing up in Vermont, Noah Kahan was heavily influenced by music and, especially, relatable lyrics penne...
Dec 25, 2023•43 min•Ep. 138
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 chie...
Dec 18, 2023•42 min•Ep. 137
There is no shortage of sad music in the world. Just reference most love songs, a substantial chunk of country music, and the entire genre known as “the blues”. But there’s sad and then there’s DEPRESSING and that’s the bit we seek to dive into with this episode. We talked to three top music critics: Steven Hyden of Uproxx, Craig Jenkins of Vulture, and Ann Powers of NPR and asked them to provide their picks for those songs that are relentlessly depressing but yet have the surprising power to ma...
Dec 11, 2023•52 min•Ep. 136
Josh Ritter is best known for his music, with eleven albums released over the past 24 years and concerts all over the world. He’s also an accomplished novelist and painter. In this wide-ranging interview, Josh goes into great depth about his mental health and his evolving understanding of it. He discusses the religious and spiritual crisis of his adolescence and the depression that followed it. Josh also fills us in on the alternating high and low moods he’s experienced in more recent years and ...
Dec 04, 2023•42 min•Ep. 135
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 numero...
Nov 27, 2023•40 min•Ep. 134
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 r...
Nov 20, 2023•51 min•Ep. 134
Originally, Kevin Drew set out to put together some songs, maybe even an album, of children’s music, featuring songs about stuff like not being afraid of the dark. As he worked on the songs, however, he found that they pointed to some heavier issues, including love, loss, and the deterioration of his mother’s body and mind. In this interview - and it is an interview despite Kevin wondering if it’s actually a therapy session - we explore mental health, music, and why Kevin had to do this show onc...
Nov 13, 2023•44 min•Ep. 133
At 30, comedian Gabe Mollica realized he didn’t have friends. He only had bros, dudes with whom he could hang out in a kind of shallow way. He hadn’t had a close friend since Tim in his young adulthood. It wasn’t a romantic love, it was a brotherly platonic love but nonetheless Gabe was in love with Tim. They met in college, moved in together, volunteered at the same places, and even spent summers working together. Inseparable. Tim introduced Gabe to Kate, they dated for a while, then that ended...
Nov 06, 2023•47 min•Ep. 132
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: bound...
Oct 30, 2023•46 min•Ep. 131
Listeners to the podcast The Dream know that the show’s creator and host, Jane Marie, has a knack for exploring and explaining complicated worlds. Previous seasons have explored the multi-level marketing and wellness industries and in the current third season, Jane takes on the industry - and let’s call it an industry - of life coaching. She finds more in common with the multi-level marketing business than one might have thought but she also finds and hires a coach for her own life. Can a chroni...
Oct 23, 2023•48 min•Ep. 130
You know that feeling when you wake up knowing that you slept through your alarm? Or you forgot to set your alarm? So you’re in a state of panic and self-hatred right as your day begins? Jason Pargin wakes up like that every day, whether the alarm went off or not. Jason is the author of seven novels, including John Dies at the End , which was adapted into a movie, and the forthcoming Zoey Is Too Drunk For This Dystopia . The novels, each of which is quite lengthy have all come out in the last 15...
Oct 16, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 129
Memoirist John Cotter describes his partial loss of hearing through a series of anecdotes. Running along the Massachusetts coastline, he found he could no longer hear the rush and ebb of the ocean waves. He danced at a wedding to what he thought was an indiscriminate wall of cacophony but when his wife said it was “Billie Jean”, John’s brain was able to assemble the sound together through memory. John was diagnosed with Ménière's disease, which affects hearing and causes vertigo, but received li...
Oct 09, 2023•51 min•Ep. 128
