Depresh Mode with John Moe

Join host John Moe (The Hilarious World of Depression) for honest, relatable, and, yes, sometimes funny conversations about mental health. Hear from comedians, musicians, authors, actors, and other top names in entertainment and the arts about living with depression, anxiety, and many other common disorders. Find out what they’ve done to address it, what worked, and what didn’t. Depresh Mode also features useful insights on mental health issues with experts in the field. It’s honest talk from people who have been there and know their stuff. No shame, no stigma, and more laughs than you might expect.

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    Jonathan Edward Durham Was In Horrible Mental Shape But Didn’t Realize It

    Although he has a huge following on social media now, Jonathan Edward Durham’s life as a writer used to be a lot more low tech. It involved locking himself in a room in Los Angeles, pounding away on screenplays that almost no one ever read, sucking back smokes and liquor, barely sleeping, and finding himself to actually be pretty miserable. He did manage to write and self-publish a novel, Winterset Hollow, that found an audience, which led to getting online to promote it. He started to write more online, finding an audience, effectively keeping a journal to understand himself and the challenges he was facing in his life and in his mental health. Jonathan left Los Angeles, met a guy and got married, and came to a much better understanding of problems he had been dealing with his whole life. The second edition of Winterset Hollow comes out this fall and Jonathan is at work on a new book now. We also hear from John Moe about getting mad, starting MADD, and how to interview the anger that you’re feeling to see what injustice it’s alerting you to. Of note, we kept seeing Jonathan’s short writing come up in our Preshies group on Facebook so much that we eventually had to book the guy. Thanks, Preshies, you are all now associate producers. 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

    51 min
  2. 23 FEB

    Huge Scientific Breakthroughs Are Changing How You’ll Think About Eating Disorders

    You might remember Alexandra Paul as one of the stars of Baywatch or the Tom Hanks-Dan Aykroyd Dragnet film. You may not have realized that as a child and on to her long trip through the worlds of modeling and Hollywood, she was bingeing and purging and dealing with severe eating disorders. She tells us about her relationship with sugar and what food meant emotionally. Then we’re joined by Dr. Cynthia Bulik, one of the top experts on eating disorders in the world today, to talk about remarkable progress in understanding the genetic components of eating disorders. Rather than blame family (especially mothers), peer pressure, or fashion culture, Dr. Bulik says some people are much more prone to developing eating disorders due to the genes they happened to get. You can be part of her research by visiting EDGI2.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. 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

    1h 1m
  3. 16 FEB

    Are Dating Apps a Mental Health Grenade? And, How Are Kids Doing in ICE-Era Minnesota?

    Dating apps and websites are booming right now as people look for ways to leverage to find love or even just companionship. Liesel Sharabi of Arizona State University compiled a meta-analysis of a huge number of studies about the connection between online dating and mental health and the results? Kind of bad news. People who use the apps compulsively, swiping all day long, are much more likely to be depressed and anxious. But were they depressed because they used the apps or did the use the apps because they were depressed? We’ll get into that, plus the terrifying imminent AI dating revolution. Then we talk to Dr. Sarah Jerstad, the Clinical Director of Psychological Services at Children’s Minnesota about what kids are going through amid the ICE presence, what the short and long term effects of this activity have been and will be, and how parents and other adults can best help them. 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

    51 min
  4. 9 FEB

    Niko Stratis on Dad Rock, Glasswork, Depression, Addiction, and Becoming Herself

    Niko Stratis knew a couple of things growing up in the Yukon in Canada: that she was, in truth, a woman, despite being regarded by the world as male, and that being trans or different in any way was absolutely not okay. It wasn’t just a matter of identity, it was a matter of safety too, as she worked with guys who vowed that if their child was gay or trans, they would kill that child. Niko discovered some other things, too: the trade of industrial glassworking, the numbing effects of the alcohol she became addicted to, and the redemptive power of music. Niko Stratis’s book, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman, is a memoir and a playlist, tracing the inspiration of songs loosely tagged as dad rock as Niko battles setbacks and depression and suicidality, lives all over Canada, and finally makes the big, nothing-to-lose move of coming out as a trans. She tells her story and what was behind choosing a name that feels wonderful to say loud and openly. 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

    58 min
  5. 6 FEB · BONUS

    SPECIAL EPISODE: Mental Health and ICE in Minnesota

    The ICE surge in Minnesota has meant a huge number of arrests, protests, confrontations, deportations, children and adults sent to detention facilities, and deaths. It’s also meant massive anxiety, fear, and trauma around the state. Marcus Schmit of NAMI Minnesota says this is being felt acutely among people already struggling with severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe anxiety and depression. His organization has received overwhelming demand for help that they are doing their best to meet and trying to help those in need avoid worst case scenarios such as suicide and loss of contact with caregivers. Marcus says it’s time for ICE to get out of the state. He and our Minnesota-based host, John Moe, talk about the urgency of the situation, how the community is becoming stronger in response, and how the trauma of what’s being done to Minnesota will remain long after the last black SUV drives away. 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 Show Less

    23 min
  6. 2 FEB

    Amanda Knox on Facing Her Prosecutor, Her Past, Her Trauma, and Her Future

    In 2007, Amanda Knox, an American studying abroad in Italy, was arrested, tried, and convicted of the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. After years in an Italian jail, she was ultimately freed, reconvicted, and finally exonerated in 2015. Since then, she has married, become a mother, and she has returned to Italy, even meeting with the prosector who concocted outrageous stories that led to her imprisonment. Their meeting is featured in Mouth of the Wolf: Amanda Knox Returns to Italy, a new documentary on Hulu. Amanda joins us to talk about her long series of traumas and who she has become as a result of them. She is joined by her husband and collaborator on the documentary, Christopher Robinson. 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

    55 min
  7. 26 JAN

    Intentionally Blunt and Very Useful Talk About Suicide with Clancy Martin

    Suicide is a problem. It’s perpetually a top cause of death around the world but society shames it, stigmatizes it, and is reluctant to discuss it even when talking about it would save lives. Well guess what, we’re talking about it. We’re offering insight, sympathy, and practical ideas to help yourself and others. Clancy Martin first thought about suicide when he was two years old and he has attempted suicide many times over the years. “I’m extremely bad at it,” he says. Clancy is a philosophy professor, award-winning fiction writer, and author of the memoir How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind. Suicide prevention has become his cause, leading Clancy to work one-on-one with a variety of friends and fans who reach out to him, often in crisis. He’s here with hard information and real things you can do to stay with us and help others do the same. 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

    1h 3m
  8. 19 JAN

    Stephanie Foo on Complex PTSD, Finding Recovery, and This American Life

    It was several years into her talk therapy sessions that Stephanie Foo was offered a diagnosis: complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or C-PTSD. Regular PTSD stems from a single traumatic event like a car crash or a mugging. C-PTSD comes from a long series of traumas from which there seems like no escape. Like child abuse. The problems Stephanie was having with her relationships and rage and all sorts of other issues stemmed, said the therapist, from the severe abuse she encountered during her childhood in San Jose. Stephanie tells us about the beatings, the neglect, and the threats she encountered, mostly at the hands of her mother and some from her dad. She also shares the long journey to understand that abuse and to recovery. It’s not something you get over, mind you. As Stephanie Foo says, your childhood is with you forever, but she’s found a better place and a better future. 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

    52 min

Hosts & Guests

About

Join host John Moe (The Hilarious World of Depression) for honest, relatable, and, yes, sometimes funny conversations about mental health. Hear from comedians, musicians, authors, actors, and other top names in entertainment and the arts about living with depression, anxiety, and many other common disorders. Find out what they’ve done to address it, what worked, and what didn’t. Depresh Mode also features useful insights on mental health issues with experts in the field. It’s honest talk from people who have been there and know their stuff. No shame, no stigma, and more laughs than you might expect.

More From Maximum Fun

You Might Also Like