Depresh Mode with John Moe

Angela Harger-Thompson had moved to Hollywood to make it big in showbiz but soon fell victim to a devastating assault. There to comfort her was her intermittent boyfriend. She really liked him and thought his offer of a four-week, 4000 mile sailing voyage on the Pacific Ocean, accompanies by a small crew of strangers and a dog seemed like a good idea. The claustrophobic pressure of that situation, combined with the dangers of ocean travel, was compounded by the rapid emergence of the covid pandemic. That meant closed borders, dwindling provisions, and a fear of what would come next. Angela tells us of the codependency in play in this situation, how they finally reached semi-friendly shores, how the romance crumbled hard, and the fallout that ensued. It’s all detailed in her new book, Worst Tits Ever, a title that sprang from an angry missive from what had become her very much EX-boyfriend.

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

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindepresh

This week, we take a look at a couple of acronyms that are soaring in popularity and ask what their widespread adoption means for mental health. Maggie Harrison Dupré of Futurism has been following the AI space closely and has an update on lawsuits related to chatbots’ culpability in numerous cases of attempted and completed suicides. She also explains some recent research about why prolonged engagement with the sycophantic computer programs can lead to spiraling out of reality. Then we’re joined by Dr. Thomas Rutledge for a look at drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound. While the drugs are so new that research is slim, some psychological issues can emerge, especially related to self image and identity. He asks if food cravings and thinking about food have occupied a lot of space in your mind for years, what happens when that goes away? It’s a complicated world we live in, Depresh Mode is here to help you make more sense of it.

Articles by Maggie Harrison Dupré:
Lawsuit: Bipolar Man Attempted Suicide After ChatGPT Poured Gasoline on His Religious Delusions
New Paper Proposes What Really Causes AI Psychosis
These Logs of ChatGPT Allegedly Driving a Suicidal Woman to Her Death Are Deeply Disturbing

Article by Thomas Rutledge:
Your Brain on GLP-1s: What We're Learning About the Mental Side

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

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindepresh

Jo Dee Messina has a long career in the music industry: number one hits, platinum and gold records, many awards. She’s a country music icon. Jo Dee just released Bridges, her first new album in 12 years and those were 12 years filled with some tough times. Her marriage ended, leaving her as a single mom of two boys, both her parents died, and Jo Dee battled cancer, completed treatment, and is cancer free. She’s reluctant to talk about those events but is very happy to talk about her relationship with her Christian faith, which she says has been a constant source of comfort and guidance ever since she turned to it amid her struggles. Is leaning on religion for guidance really all that different from the secular approach of identifying your own wise mind? And if, as Jo Dee believes, everything that will happen is written and planned by a higher power, why do tragedies and pain exist? Jo Dee’s been thinking about that and has some very recent insights. All this, plus Jo Dee Messina belting out a couple of songs.

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

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindepresh

Hanif Abdurraqib is a MacArthur Fellow, accomplished poet, and critically lauded author of numerous books, including There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, which is now out in paperback. He’s also a person who deals with major depressive disorder and numerous anxiety disorders. In a revealing, positive, and practical interview, Hanif talks about the numerous ways he cares for his mental health issues by both taking care of himself and building a strong community of other people around him to lean on.

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

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindepresh

The title of Elizabeth Roberts’ new book, In Praise of Addiction, is likely to catch your attention, maybe even set off some cognitive dissonance in your mind. But the University of Michigan’s Elizabeth Roberts doesn’t want you to be unhealthy or take up new habits that can hurt you and others, she just wants you to consider that maybe we haven’t been looking at addiction with the clearest of eyes. Why are some substances and habits tolerated and others scorned, their users told by society to abstain and isolated until they do? In her time living in Mexico, she noticed a big difference between people who drank or did drugs to cut themselves off from society versus those who used substances to connect with one another. She offers her analysis on how this was impacted by NAFTA and the War on Drugs in Mexico and puritanism and capitalism in the United States. This is a complicated issue but it’s pretty healthy to challenge assumptions and to take a look at how those assumptions came to be established in the first 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.

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

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindepresh