Members of Congress answer to their constituents, ultimately. They work for us. So this week, we check in on one of our employees, the junior senator from Minnesota, Tina Smith. Smith is very active on the topic of mental health and gives us updates on legislation that is moving - sometimes slowly, sometimes swiftly - through the U.S. Senate. We discuss the provider shortage, the innovation around telehealth, and whether congress can or should do anything about regulating social networks to better protect the mental health of young people. We also hear Smith’s own story as a person who has experienced major depressive disorder first hand. 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. 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 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod. John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Sen. Tina Smith on Mental Health

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.

Comedy

Health & Fitness

Mental Health

Comedy Interviews

Just because someone’s depressed, doesn’t mean they can’t achieve great things. Just because someone can achieve great things, doesn’t mean they aren’t depressed. You may already know these facts, especially if you’ve been listening to our show doe a while, but they bear repeating because they can be easy to forget. Sierra Katow has a new standup special, her first, called Funt (referring to the Fun Aunt she hopes to be) and she joins us to talk about the depression that has been there since she was a kid and which she’s had to work to manage ever since. It’s an honest and very funny conversation. 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. 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 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod. John is on X @johnmoe.

Comedian Sierra Katow on Big Time Achievement and Persistent Depression

When you’ve had an HBO comedy special, starred in an off-Broadway show, made a million TV appearances, and headlined comedy clubs all over the country, the next move is not generally to apply to grad school to become a therapist or social worker. But that’s what Chris Gethard found himself doing after his incredibly stressful career hit some hard stumbling blocks and he was faced with the issue of how best to take care of his young family (including himself) and provide things like health insurance. Before he could enroll, Chris got an opportunity to work with a non-profit to build a program promoting mental health through comedy and improv. Chris made radical changes and says he’s in a better place. 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. 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 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod. John is on X @johnmoe.

Chris Gethard is Less Ego-Driven, More Peaceful, No Longer Losing Teeth

Ernesto Londoño, a veteran journalist with the New York Times, was suicidally depressed, living in Brazil, and curious. He had heard from a psychiatrist at a party about the remarkable and barely studied benefits of ayahuasca, a psychedelic herbal brew that has been popular among tribes in South America for a long time. Being a reporter, he wanted to learn more. Being an incredibly depressed person, he wanted to try it. His experience led to a dramatic change in his mental health and an interest in studying psychedelic treatments in many locations and an interest in studying the organizations and individuals who administer them. He writes about all of it in his new book, Trippy:The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics. 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. 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 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod. John is on X @johnmoe.    

The New York Times’ Ernesto Londoño Dives Deep Into the Psychedelic Treatment Experience

Judah & the Lion’s new album, The Process, is divided into five different stages, one for each stage of grief as described by Swiss psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross. So there are songs about denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Judah Akers was moved to create the album after a series of incidents in his life, including suicides in his family, the collapse of his marriage, and the development of an unwelcome alcohol habit. We talk with Judah about his recording but also about positive experiences with talk therapy, with neurofeedback therapy, and his relationship with God. 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. 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 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod. John is on X @johnmoe.

Our Guests Are Musician Judah Akers and, In a Sense, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

Shannon Shaw was on her way to check out an alternate venue for her upcoming wedding and then to her bachelorette party one August day in 2022 when she got word that Joe Haener, Shannon’s fiancé, had been killed. His pickup had collided with another pickup and he died right outside the fields of his family farm. Shannon joins us to talk about the pain, the loss, the grief.and the joy of knowing and loving Joe in the first place. One of the ways she processed all this was to do what she does best: create music. We hear about all that went into the intensely personal album The Moon Is In The Wrong Place by Shannon & the Clams. 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. 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 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression Find the show on X @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod. John is on X @johnmoe.  

Sen. Tina Smith on Mental Health

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