Suicide is a problem. It’s perpetually a top cause of death around the world but society shames it, stigmatizes it, and is reluctant to discuss it even when talking about it would save lives. Well guess what, we’re talking about it. We’re offering insight, sympathy, and practical ideas to help yourself and others.

Clancy Martin first thought about suicide when he was two years old and he has attempted suicide many times over the years. “I’m extremely bad at it,” he says. Clancy is a philosophy professor, award-winning fiction writer, and author of the memoir How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind. Suicide prevention has become his cause, leading Clancy to work one-on-one with a variety of friends and fans who reach out to him, often in crisis. He’s here with hard information and real things you can do to stay with us and help others do the same.

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 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