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

A.J. Daulerio exists as a caricature to a lot of people because he was the guy who published a clip from a Hulk Hogan sex tape on Gawker, got sued by Hogan, and he and Gawker lost to the tune of a $140 million payout. The enmity and shame of that was a lot to carry around, as was a lifelong battle with depression and bipolar disorder type II, as was a pretty profound problem with drug and alcohol abuse. But A.J. sobered up, got treatment, got therapy, and began to devote his energy to stories of hope and healing in his Small Bow podcast and newsletter. So now he’s fine and it’s a happy ending, right? Well, no, mental health is more complicated than that. A.J. shares with us a pretty terrifying story he hasn’t shared anywhere before about a brush with self-harm that occurred very recently. It’s a story that shows how a human being, especially one that deals with mental illness, may be on an overall mission to get healthier but it’s pretty complicated and, unlike the movies, it doesn’t follow a clean narrative arc. All you can do is try to be better and A.J.’s efforts, and this interview, may help with that.

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

We live in complicated times and, for a whole lot of us, we do so with complicated minds. A billion people worldwide are living with some form of mental illness and 20% of the U.S. population has experienced a mental health crisis in the past year.

Circumstances in our shared world are surely contributing to the problem: climate change and natural disasters, affordability and employment problems domestically, and people living in fear of sudden arrest and deportation. Meanwhile, tremendous strides are being made in mental health treatment as science finds incredibly effective methods and moves toward making them available.

It’s easy to conclude that the world is terrible and we’re doomed. And it’s treacherous to believe that everything is going to be all sunshine and roses soon.

We ask you to hold two things in hand as you navigate the new year: the world is very challenging, likely contributing to mental health problems, AND there is more reason than ever to have hope of a better tomorrow. It’s not binary. It’s not either/or. It’s both.

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

It was two years into a vicious cycle of depression and Mike Doughty was falling apart. He was taking more Ambien than he had been prescribed, importing huge boxes of the stuff from India, waking up to find packs of cigarettes, candy wrappers, and pizza boxes with no memory of leaving his Memphis home to make such purchases. He was convinced something was deeply wrong with his heart even though every doctor said there wasn’t. Finally, he checked into an in-patient facility that turned out to be wonderful and productive. Then he checked out. Then Mike, a recovering addict, started drinking heavily and smoking weed. Then he checked back in again. Mike Doughty is showing improvement now and talks about his treatment, his recovery, and touring again with his band Soul Coughing again 24 years after a bitter breakup.

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

The intriguing memoir Tom Johnson recently released is called Driven: A Life in Public Service from LBJ to CNN and it’s full of amazing anecdotes. Tom joined the White House in his early twenties, was the one to inform LBJ of Martin Luther King’s shooting, was a giant in newspapers and cable news, and loaned Gorbachev a pen that was used to sign the paperwork dissolving the USSR. Tom’s personal story is a little more vulnerable and fragile. He tells of experiencing a suicidal depression in a time when such things were never discussed, being of the opinion that depression was a sign of weakness, and getting it treated anyway at the behest of his wife. Tom also shares his regrets, now at age 84, about being so driven by his career and accomplishments that he gave his family far less of his time and attention than he should have. It’s a moving interview about someone who had a front row seat for history and is now examining what it all meant.

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

Anger can be a scary topic for a lot of people. It usually doesn’t feel good when you’re experiencing it and it can be associated with behaviors that are very frightening indeed. But Dr. Ryan Martin, who is one of the few academics specializing in anger and who has written two books about it, says anger is a normal and even beneficial emotion to experience. It’s your body’s way of indicating that some injustice has been done, either to you or someone else. And that’s good information to have. He says that if we can listen to anger for what it’s telling us about ourselves and our surroundings, without throwing punches, it can lead to a more balanced and thoughtful life and, in the end, a more peaceful life. He also shares why so-called rage rooms are not really good for your anger at all (it’s kind of like drinking in a bar to address your alcoholism) and how he’s taught his own kids to own their anger and process it.

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

It’s very easy to associate your job with your own sense of self. So it makes that it can be traumatic to be one of the scores of people being laid off in today’s turbulent economy. We are joined by the New York Times’ mental health reporter, Christina Caron, who has been looking at the effect of unemployment - especially long-term unemployment - on mental health. It can lead to more severe depression, anxiety, marital problems, and substance use. She also has some great tips on what you can do for your mental health if you’re in that situation.

Then we go to Burbank to talk with Terri Riviera who runs the Horror Community Foundation there. She organizes mental health support groups, led by a licensed therapist, that use horror movies to help people deal with depression, anxiety, and other mental problems. It sounds wild but the groups are very popular, well-attended, and backed up by science. Could it help you to watch The Shining in the company of friendly people and a therapist? Turns out, yes!

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

Maureen Johnson loves mysteries. Loves reading classic detective fiction and loves writing mystery stories, which young readers have been gobbling up for years. Some of Maureen’s stories feature teenage sleuth Stevie Bell, who, besides having a knack for solving cold cases, deals with an anxiety disorder. It’s not all there is to Stevie, of course, but it’s definitely there and she has to manage it on an ongoing basis. Maureen tells us about Stevie and about her own recent anxiety mystery when she was suddenly whomped by a massive wave of anxiety that would not go away and severely affected her life for quite a while. Faced with that mystery, Maureen got to work gathering clues to figure it out, ultimately finding many effective techniques, including to fighting the anxiety monster (which she visualizes as Gossamer, the big red furry monster from Bugs Bunny cartoons) but welcoming it, getting to know it, and finding out what made it tick. She also got some lab work done, which pointed to a pronounced iron problem that was fixable.

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