Depresh Mode with John Moe

Podcast listeners know Janet from the JV Club podcast here on Maximum Fun. Television audiences know her from You’re The Worst and Stan Against Evil, among many other credits. And fans of live comedy might know Janet as one of the founders of SF Sketchfest. But there was a time in Janet’s life when she didn’t know her as much of anything. As a young person, she dealt with depression and anxiety as well as a condition that you don’t hear talked about nearly as often: DPDR, or depersonalization derealization disorder. It’s a condition that brings about periods where you feel like you’re separate from the body that you’re traveling around in and like the world you’re in isn’t necessarily real.Janet says the movie Being John Malkovich was a revelation in that she saw a big screen depiction of what this felt like.We learn about Janet’s girlhood goth phase, wearing lots of black in the hot Arizona sun, an exciting move to California, a dispiriting foray into live journalism, and, well, figuring out who she is.Listen to Janet Varney's podcast The JV Club on the podcatcher of your choice. Follow Janet on Twitter @janetvarney and on Instagram @thejvclub.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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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. 

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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

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-covid19Center 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.pdfhttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/for-parents.htmlAmerican 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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

The first thing that I noticed when watching Tuca & Bertie was that there was a LOT going on. Bertie is frantically trying to navigate her magazine job at Conde Nest AND her dream of being professional baker AND her relationship with her loving and sometimes perplexing boyfriend Speckle. Tuca is just trying to navigate what it means to be a responsible adult as she manages sobriety, romance, and a changing relationship with her best friend, Bertie. Beyond that, there’s just a lot happening on the screen, like quick visual gags, complex background characters, and a universe where plants sometimes have human bodies and are somewhat mystical. We were excited to find out all about it from our Maximum Fun colleague, Lisa Hanawalt (co-host of Baby Geniuses), who created the show and runs it. Lisa shares her stories of mental health’s role in her life from being a shockingly morbid preschooler to panic attacks on the freeway as an adult. We never do get her to explain the plants with human bodies but she does fill us in on the Sex Bugs, which may be both pubic lice AND a touring rock band.Watch Tuca & Bertie Sundays at 11:30 pm on adultswim or online. Listen to Baby Geniuses here on on the podcatcher of your choice. Visit Lisa Hanawalt's website for books and prints.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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

It’s tricky. That’s what we found when we set out to answer a question we get a lot: “How do I approach a loved one who I’m worried about in terms of mental health?” Obviously, you want to let them know you care but you want to express the depth of your concern. You don’t want to scare them away and make them less likely to seek help. So where’s the line?According to Quanah Walker, of MakeItOK.org and Director of Behavioral Health at HealthPartners, it starts with knowing the person you’re talking to and knowing yourself. It’s not so much a matter of picking the right words as it is gaining an understanding of your friend.Megan Auster-Rosen, a licensed psychotherapist in Los Angeles, says it’s important also to know your limitations and respects someone’s boundaries. Don’t go busting in to solve all their problems. Maybe just keep your mouth shut once in a while and learn how to listen a bit more. Depresh Mode burnout episode - https://maximumfun.org/episodes/depresh-mode/if-youre-miserable-at-work-maybe-its-not-your-fault/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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

In this Song Imploder edition of our show (borrowing a format from the podcast Song Exploder), Carl (who records as A.C.) Newman walks us through “Whiteout Conditions”, a song created when his sister was dying of cancer but when he had to get into the studio.Seems like it’s safe to say that when people are in a terrible mental state, they are least equipped to do something as creative as writing songs. But Carl isn’t like most people. The leader of the Canadian group The New Pornographers says that he simply can’t stop writing songs. There’s nothing elective about it. He has 50 songs in various states of completion all loaded up on the computers in his Woodstock, New York home.He also talks about how despite battling depression and anxiety his whole life, he’s still able to get up on stage and sing and lead a band. It helps, he says, having Neko Case in his band because he thinks audiences figure if Neko’s okay with him then he must be an acceptable guy.Purchase your copy of the Whiteout Conditions album at The New Pornographer's website or on Apple Music. Follow A.C. Newman on Twitter @ACNewman and The New Pornographers @TheNewPornos. 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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.

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-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe 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.