Cartoonist Gemma Correll Saw a Therapist with a Clown-Festooned Office. Once.

British-born, LA-based author and illustrator Gemma Correll had a couple of reasons to choose  the motif of an amusement park for her new anxiety book, Anxietyland. One, she loves amusement parks and wanted to be able to write off a Disneyland trip as a research expedition. And also, there are so many great metaphors to be found there like emotional rollercoasters and a worry-go-round. With hilarious candor, Gemma shares her own story about fearing coyotes would eat her pets (there are no coyotes in England), taking endless flights of stairs to avoid elevators, and dealing with alcohol, who becomes a friend but not, ultimately, a good one. Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is, to put it mildly, a skeptic of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication, a form of meds that millions of Americans use regularly with tremendous benefit. He was once on SSRIs, went off them, then became addicted to heroin, and he believes these events are linked. He also believes they cause school shootings and cause harm to developing fetuses. There is no evidence to support this. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat who represents the 6th district in Oregon in the House of Representatives, joins us to unpack Kennedy’s latest efforts to curtail SSRI use and availability and what her minority party is doing to answer the threat. 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]. 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