Lead was added to car fuel back in the twenties and wasn’t phased out in America until 1996. By then, according to neuropsychologist and researcher Dr Aaron Reuben, the damage had very much been done. He’s one of the authors of a new study pointing to 151 million cases of mental illness that correlate with the presence of lead in gas tanks. The people damaged the most were those born during the highest usage of lead, the mid to late sixties through the early eighties. Dr. Reuben says that while circumstances and individual cases vary widely, the average Gen X-er may have also lost four to six IQ points as a result of lead exposure. 

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Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Home for Richard Sarvate wasn’t anything like the home lives of his friends. Unlike his friends, his mom was convinced Richard was trying to kill her and that Bill Clinton was sending her secret messages because they had the same birthday. Richard shares stories of growing up with an abusive mom who had schizophrenia, what that meant for the development of his social skills and sense of self, and how the food was always somehow great. He also tells of how a scary situation in Puerto Rico led to a career in comedy.

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 [email protected].

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

Twin Cities comic Ellie Hino was wondering if her young son might have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, so she looked into the symptoms. What she found was a pretty good rundown on problems that she had been wrestling with for many years, especially since becoming a mom. After extensive testing, her diagnosis was confirmed, which opened up the possibilities of treatment and led to a more manageable mind and life. She shares with us her understanding of the condition, what it’s meant in her comedy and other work, and how it has also meant mourning the life she could have had if she had identified the problem much earlier.

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 [email protected].

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

David Shaw’s anxiety was more than just a feeling in his mind, it was in his ears as well. The frontman of the popular rock band The Revivalists found himself dealing with hyperacusis, a condition of extreme hypersensitivity to sounds that would ordinarily be considered tolerable, which was a hindrance in his job as lead singer of a rock band. David talks about managing his anxiety through a variety of approaches and coming to a place of honesty about who he was and who he wants to be. He also discusses “heart mode”, the wisest and most caring place he could operate from and what he’s learned about getting into that state of being.

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 [email protected].

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

During a decades long career in the United States Army, Gregg Martin just kept on succeeding. Star cadet at West Point, getting promoted up to two-start General, earning PhD degrees along the way, and receiving glowing evaluations all the while for his boundless energy and enthusiasm. He now knows that he was operating under a condition called hyperthymia, being in a constant state of near mania. After a deployment to Iraq, Gregg’s mania kicked into high gear and was accompanied by bouts of deep depression. It would take many years of further promotion and misdiagnosis before Gregg’s behavior became so erratic that his life fell apart and his bipolar disorder was finally identified. Then he had to figure out how to get better. He tells his story in this interview and in his book Bipolar General: My Forever War with Mental Illness.

We get a preview of the episode at the top from listener Ken Fredette, who says the episode has stayed with him since it originally aired.

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 [email protected].

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
 

Youngmi Mayer says she hates doing research but, in our conversation and in her new memoir I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying, she does a lot of digging into the events of her life and what they all meant. Youngmi grew up in Saipan and Korea, the daughter of a Korean mother and a White American father, and had to deal with discrimination, harassment, and abuse. Later on, she moved to America with $700 in her pocket and no real plan in order to escape an abusive relationship and had to find a path that included a place of prominence in the restaurant scene, a life of comedy, and a severe depression disorder.

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 [email protected].

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

This episode of our show is premiering the day before Election Day in the U.S. and loads of people are just a mess with worry and anxiety. We don’t know the future and we’re not a politics show but we can provide you with a list of 13 stories that might make you feel that we’re getting somewhere as a society with mental health. Learn about the improving mental state of young people, advancements in treating ADHD, OCD, and anorexia, new government actions that will make a difference, and even grandmothers on benches in Zimbabwe. We think you’ll feel better after this episode.

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 [email protected].

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

Imagine serving your country in the military, incurring some trauma and some mental health difficulties, and then finding that your appointments to get mental health treatment keep getting canceled without explanation. And in many cases, it’s you, the patient, being unfairly blamed for canceling or not showing up to the appointments. That’s happening now in America’s veteran healthcare system, according to Military.com reporter Patricia Kime. She joins us to talk about the political pressure against the V.A. that might be influencing this issue and she shares what the veterans are reaching out to tell her.

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 [email protected].

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

If you’ve ever tried to treat major depressive disorder, you know that it can be absolutely exhausting. That’s because for a long time the approach has been one of trial and error, taking a certain med, it doesn’t work, try a different one, try therapy, try something else, try, try, try. Stanford University researcher Dr. Leanne Williams is attempting a methodology with a better batting average: taking functional MRI of the brain (think video instead of still shots) and matching brain types with treatments much more likely to be effective. The research is showing great promise and could mean a much more efficient approach for people dealing with depression.

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 [email protected].

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

Singer/songwriter Bishop Briggs lost her sister, her best friend, her roommate, and her manager all on one day in January 2021. They were all the same person. After Kate’s death, swiftly following her diagnosis of ovarian cancer, Bishop plunged into a dark place, not eating, not really engaging with the world, and being increasingly haunted by thoughts of suicide. Ultimately, she found a path toward a better place with the assistance of a shockingly blunt pronouncement by her partner, the birth of her baby, and an openness to medication.

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 [email protected].

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

How Do You Feel? is the title of Dr. Jessi Gold’s new memoir about her life as a psychiatrist dealing with her own mental health and the health of other medical providers during the first wave of the covid pandemic. The answer to the question the title poses would be, “Not very good at all.” Dr. Gold profiles composites of several patients in the medical profession who felt the need to be perfect, to be superhuman, to not let anything get to them, only to find that everyone has limits and vulnerabilities, including Jessi herself. 

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 [email protected].

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