Depresh Mode with John Moe
depreshmode.bsky.social
Depresh Mode with John Moe
@depreshmode.bsky.social
An award-winning weekly mental health podcast about living with complicated minds, featuring musicians, comics, researchers, experts, authors, and actors.
https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/depresh-mode/
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...
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.
johnmoe.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Depresh Mode with John Moe
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...
November 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
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...
November 10, 2025 at 4:06 PM
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...
November 3, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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...
Learn These Terms Now: Mud Wasp, Ibogaine, Chatfishing
Some could help you. Some could make you further depressed. Get that sorted.
johnmoe.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:31 PM
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...
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.
johnmoe.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:12 PM
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...
October 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Depresh Mode with John Moe
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-...
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...
www.nexusfamilyhealing.org
October 22, 2025 at 5:11 PM
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 Government Coming for Your SSRIs? ... Not ... Yet.
Good news about MRIs and college students, though!
johnmoe.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
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...
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.
maximumfun.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:42 PM
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.
October 17, 2025 at 5:51 PM
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...
October 13, 2025 at 5:26 PM
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...
Maybe you're Not Crazy. Maybe the World Is. We Have Evidence.
Featuring: bald people like P.E. Moskowitz, Yul Brynner, and Snuffy Smith
johnmoe.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Depresh Mode with John Moe
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...
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...
www.nexusfamilyhealing.org
October 8, 2025 at 4:16 PM
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...
October 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
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/...
KITTENS, Sugar, Hairdressers and more
Well, this sounds like a much more cheerful newsletter than I usually put out
open.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
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.
October 2, 2025 at 6:11 PM
New Depresh Mode newsletter is up!
- Springsteen!
- Ketamine
- Sensible global policy!
- Mysterious wedding guest who no one knows!
- Many dogs!
- Anxiety in the womb!

Subscribe for freeeeee!

johnmoe.substack.com/p/maybe-spri...
Maybe Springsteen Tickets Should Be Covered by Your Insurance
Also: your prenatal anxiety triggers and a mysterious wedding guest
johnmoe.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Anne was 59. Had been hospitalized for depression, received rounds of ECT, survived an emotionally abusive childhood.
Then she went to a Springsteen show. Her *first ever* concert. It changed everything. So she followed Bruce to Australia.
Hell of a story this week.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...
September 29, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Okay, the good news: one lady has found the cure for depression and anxiety. The bad news: you have to spend a lot of time with tarantulas, who are God's true monsters.

Subscribe for free to our Depresh Mode newsletter!

johnmoe.substack.com/p/nervous-br...
Nervous Breakdowns, Psychosis, and Tarantula-based depression cures
Boy, I just tempted you to read more, right? Or repel you forever?
johnmoe.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 10:29 PM
A couple years ago, singer/songwriter Emma Swift @emmaswiftsings.bsky.social had a nervous breakdown & psychotic episode. She was hospitalized for several weeks. Then got better and wrote some amazing songs. She walks us through all of it in a fascinating interview.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...
September 22, 2025 at 6:10 PM
This week's Depresh Mode newsletter has some very scary stuff and some hopeful stuff and some stuff about how great it is to be bored.
Always free to subscribe.
johnmoe.substack.com/p/ai-psychos...
AI Psychosis, Effective Psilocybin, and the Wonders of Boredom
The first two would seem to cancel out the third but hang with me
johnmoe.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
People are using AI bots like ChatGPT, losing touch with reality, and ending up hospitalized or dead. It's being called AI psychosis, which is a pretty alarming name but seems pretty accurate. This week's show explores it. Important and disturbing listen.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...
September 15, 2025 at 1:53 PM
John here. Editing next week's show, which is about AI psychosis. At one point, I use the phrase, "the robot mommy who's going to kill us all."
Gonna be a great episode!
Please don't kill me, robot mommy.
September 11, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Delighted to welcome Alex Edelman to the show this week. Emmy and Tony winner for his one-man show Just For Us and one of the stars of The Paper. We talk about those shows, psychic damage, ADHD, grief and so much more.
maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...
September 8, 2025 at 3:08 PM