Depresh Mode with John Moe

NYT mental health reporter Christina Caron

A bunch of horror movie characters

Double shot show this week!

First! The negative mental health effects of unemployment and how to manage them with the NYT's Christina Caron.

Then! The positive mental health effects of horror films.

maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

Things That Might Help Your Depression: Laughing Gas, Horror. Things that suck: Unemployment, farmer mental health. Unknown: Ozempic.

Latest (FREE!) newsletter has the suckiness of unemployment on your mental health and what to do about it plus the mental health *benefits* of horror movies and nitrous oxide. Plus, John loses his shit a little and rails about capitalism.
johnmoe.substack.com/p/things-tha...

Giving Your Red Monster a Haircut Also: AI therapy SHUTDOWN! And rage rooms are counter-productive!

All our newsletters are interesting but this one is REALLY interesting:
- @maureenjohnsonbooks.com on anxiety, monsters
- AI therapy app creator shuts it off, says it's too dangerous
- Rage rooms make you feel worse
- Cutting WAY back on social media helps
johnmoe.substack.com/p/giving-you...

GREAT new episode with @maureenjohnsonbooks.com about anxiety, Gossamer (did you know that monster was named Gossamer?), IRON, detective work, and solving puzzles of the detective, mental health, and puzzle varieties.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

A Holiday Family Survival Mini-sode | Maximum Fun Some tips from In This Family for getting along and getting through

A surprise bonus mini-sode today! In This Family, produced by John Moe, is all about the complex intersection of family and mental health. The host of that show, Dr. Michelle K. Murray, has some advice on getting through and even enjoying family holidays.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

Summary: People are Fascinating and Vulnerable, Corporations are F'ed Up Believing you're dead, evil AI, evil social media, costly construction, painful chocolate

This week's (free! subscribe!) newsletter goes on a real roller coaster. You may get enraged (by AI and Meta), intrigued (by our pod guest), and you may laugh hard (the dark chocolate ad).
johnmoe.substack.com/p/summary-pe...

We're in a mental health crisis in America. That's leading to more construction workers being incapacitated or dead by suicide. That makes construction costs higher. That makes housing more expensive.
Mental health crisis = everything crisis.
kutv.com/news/local/m...

Fascinating show this week. Esmé Weijun Wang is a brilliant writer who has experienced depression, psychosis, schizoaffective disorder, and Cotard's delusion. That's where you believe that you're actually dead. She tells us what THAT'S like.
Our minds are amazing.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

The Show Might Make You Mad This Week But the Fatboy Slim news and videos may cheer you up. Also, stress as obsolete superpower.

Latest Depresh Mode newsletter (free! subscribe!) has info on our pod episode this week that might make you mad, stress as superpower, the mental health devastation of unemployment, and also some genetic info on Hitler's mental health (it wasn't good.)
johnmoe.substack.com/p/the-show-m...

Our guest this week, Sarah Fay, says mental illness is very real but mental health diagnoses are not scientifically valid. She says identifying with your diagnosis blocks your path to recovery. This episode might feel liberating or it might upset people. Maybe both.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

Scary Government Cuts, Promising Psychedelic Research, and Young Biggie Also, no, the news isn't better on ChatGPT and vulnerable users. It's worse. Good lord.

Latest newsletter (FREE! You should subscribe!) talks SAMHSA cuts, psychedelic rewiring, new lawsuits against ChatGPT, heartbreaking NFL news, and also Biggie just killing it at 17 years old.
johnmoe.substack.com/p/scary-gove...

Had a great conversation with John last week about how the Trump admin has gutted SAMHSA/the ramifications for dismantling the fed agency overseeing mental health and addiction treatment.

Here's the story we talk about, written/reported w/ @levfacher.bsky.social:

www.statnews.com/2025/10/30/s...

One of my favorite episodes of our show. It was already a good interview but after we were done, Rose offered to share her and her family's connection to mental health. That part, which we moved to the top of the episode, crystallizes that any mental health story is a human story. Please listen.

Fentanyl numbers were getting better under a fully funded SAMHSA, as were suicide numbers. Now hotline numbers are shutting down and some agencies are severely hobbled. In some cases, the programs can't be canceled so the Trump admin. just lays off the person in charge of fund dispersal.

Our guest, @rosebroderick.bsky.social, has written about this issue for Stat. She tells us about what's happening, what programs are hobbled or dead, and provides a personal context for what this means to vulnerable people. It's valuable information, important in our society, and very moving.

This week, we examine the dramatic cuts to SAMHSA, the gov't agency in charge of supporting addiction, suicide prevention, and mental health programs receiving federal funding. More than half the employees are gone since January. Huge news story and it's personal.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is a term that's gone out of fashion. Now: major depressive disorder with a seasonal pattern, which almost forms the acronym MUD WASP. Learn what a top mental health expert says about how to make winter bearable as mud wasps descend.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

Learn These Terms Now: Mud Wasp, Ibogaine, Chatfishing Some could help you. Some could make you further depressed. Get that sorted.

Latest Depresh Mode newsletter (always FREE) has info on how to survive a mud wasp attack. And by that, we mean seasonal affective disorder. Plus, great results for psychoactive drugs and text therapy.
johnmoe.substack.com/p/learn-thes...

Are We All Dealing With the Mental Health Problem of Whiteness? Also some cool science news on brain cells and postpartum detection. And I think Ira Glass is wrong about something.

Latest (FREE!) newsletter has:
- the mental health problem of whiteness
- maybe we need to look at cells and not neurotransmitters
- postpartum detection
- Ira Glass being bold and maybe wrong?
- and more!
johnmoe.substack.com/p/are-we-all...

Now there's a title:
HOW I KNOW WHITE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY and Other Stories.
We welcome author Dr. Jonathan Mathias Lassiter for a fascinating talk on the mental health problem that whiteness presents for everyone, regardless of race. Really fascinating discussion.

maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

Ana Marie Cox on Alcohol and Having to Become Your Parent’s Parent Journalist and podcaster Ana Marie Cox opens up about growing up too soon — taking care of her alcoholic mother, navigating divorce, and facing her own struggles with addiction. In this powerful conve...

I'm producing a fascinating podcast called In This Family, which is all about families and mental health. Latest episode features a great conversation with @anamariecox.bsky.social about complicated childhoods, substance use, family grudges, and healing.
www.nexusfamilyhealing.org/podcast/ana-...

Is the Government Coming for Your SSRIs? ... Not ... Yet. Good news about MRIs and college students, though!

New FREE newsletter edition available. Yes, we talk about the SSRI thing but also: good news on college students' mental health, good news on MRIs, and much more!

johnmoe.substack.com/p/is-the-gov...

Is the U.S. Government Going To Take Away Your Antidepressants? | Maximum Fun Maybe not yet but the fact that it’s an issue is reason to learn a lot more and fast.

Pretty important show this week, to be brutally honest.
It's about whether the U.S. government will take away your antidepressants.
Upshot: they absolutely want to. Will they? Well... not YET.
Don't panic. But pay attention. War may be coming.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

We have a show coming out on Monday about whether the U.S. government wants to take away your SSRIs. The not-at-all-reassuring answer? ..... Not yet.

Really fascinating and wide-ranging conversation with P.E. Moskowitz @pempem.bsky.social this week about drugs, trauma, and whether the problems you're having are you having an illness or you living in a sick world. You'll want to hear this one.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

Maybe you're Not Crazy. Maybe the World Is. We Have Evidence. Featuring: bald people like P.E. Moskowitz, Yul Brynner, and Snuffy Smith

Latest edition of our FREE newsletter has:
- the debate of whether you have an illness or you just leave in a diseased world
- terrifying layoffs
- foraging
- comic strips
- baldness = good
johnmoe.substack.com/p/maybe-your...

Dr. Joseph Lee, CEO of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, on Addiction and Healing As a young resident at Duke University, Joseph Lee saw the profound change that people were capable of when dealing with addiction. He witnessed how people could become healthier than they had ever be...

I've had a wonderful experience producing the podcast series In This Family. It's about mental health as it travels through families of origin and on to families we create. This week we have a fascinating talk with Dr. Joseph Lee of Hazelden Betty Ford.
www.nexusfamilyhealing.org/podcast/dr-j...

When you think of people with depression and anxiety, you don't think of folks like Kendall Toole. Entrepreneur, former star instructor on Peloton, confident, poised, in great shape, former USC cheerleader. Mental illness doesn't care. It'll get you anyway.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

KITTENS, Sugar, Hairdressers and more Well, this sounds like a much more cheerful newsletter than I usually put out

This week's newsletter is way less bleak than many editions: the power of kittens, hairdressers responding to a mental health crisis, some stuff about sugar that's a little distressing but good to find out.
Subscribe for free! AND READ THE KITTEN STORY.
open.substack.com/pub/johnmoe/...

Editing show for next week. Interview ends with guest talking about her mental state resembling Tina Turner - can be sweet but can be rough also.

Torn whether to go out with uptempo part of "Proud Mary" or "We Don't Need Another Hero".

Hey our show isn't easy.