Comics Creator Ellen Forney on Bipolar and a Monster Named Smedmerts

Comics Creator Ellen Forney on Bipolar and a Monster Named Smedmerts

It wasn’t until her late twenties that Ellen Forney noticed that her friends couldn’t really keep up with her. Ellen had boundless energy that took the form of dancing for long stretches at home, smoking a lot of pot, vibrating with intense sexuality, and latching on to new friends who were just as unrelentingly intense as she was. But to Ellen, this was just her living her best life. It wasn’t until these episodes were followed by intense, debilitating crashes of depression that she thought something might be wrong here. A psychiatrist walked her through the various symptoms of bipolar disorder and, despite a heap of early denial, Ellen arrived at an understanding that this was a condition she had. From there, it was a long road of treatments to get her stable.

Ellen Forney tells her story and the plan she developed for herself and others to take care of mental health. It involves a monster named Smedmerts (she is a cartoonist so of course she drew Smedmerts), whose name is a helpful acronym.

Get your copy of Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life, as well as Marbles and Ellen's other books, by visiting her website, EllenForney.com. Follow Ellen on Twitter @ellen_forney and on Instagram @ellen_forney.

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.

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

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Avsnitt(278)

Alison Rosen on Postpartum Depression, the Anxiety of Scales, and Best Friendship

Alison Rosen on Postpartum Depression, the Anxiety of Scales, and Best Friendship

Alison Rosen cautions us to not read too much into the title of her show. It’s really just an expression that was popular in slang vernacular a few years ago when the podcast started. Besides, if ever...

4 Okt 202154min

Janet Varney Wasn’t In Being John Malkovich. But She Lived It.

Janet Varney Wasn’t In Being John Malkovich. But She Lived It.

Podcast listeners know Janet from the JV Club podcast here on Maximum Fun. Television audiences know her from You’re The Worst and Stan Against Evil, among many other credits. And fans of live comedy ...

27 Sep 202155min

Movies and TV Shows That Get Mental Illness Right and Some That Get It Wrong

Movies and TV Shows That Get Mental Illness Right and Some That Get It Wrong

We’ve all seen screen portrayals of people with mental illnesses and we’ve all seen ones that miss the mark pretty badly. Someone has a vague sense of “crazy” about them so they turn into an evil sadi...

20 Sep 202149min

Jackie Kashian Did What You Should Do

Jackie Kashian Did What You Should Do

Therapy isn’t about hating your mother. It’s not about crying over something that happened when you were six and then dwelling on it for the rest of your life. And the difficulty or trauma you faced b...

13 Sep 202156min

School is Starting, Kids are Psychologically Messed Up, and We All Need to Help

School is Starting, Kids are Psychologically Messed Up, and We All Need to Help

COVID has been traumatic for young people. For a year and a half now, it’s either been impossible to go to school or the place that they go to doesn’t match what they used to know as school. The virus...

6 Sep 202148min

Meditation is Good and Helpful and Doesn’t Require All That Woo-Woo Mysticism

Meditation is Good and Helpful and Doesn’t Require All That Woo-Woo Mysticism

When we asked Dr. Darshan Mehta, Medical Director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine in Boston and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, about the image probl...

30 Aug 202155min

Tuca & Bertie’s Lisa Hanawalt on Depression, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Funneling All That Knowledge Into Cartoon Birds

Tuca & Bertie’s Lisa Hanawalt on Depression, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Funneling All That Knowledge Into Cartoon Birds

The first thing that I noticed when watching Tuca & Bertie was that there was a LOT going on. Bertie is frantically trying to navigate her magazine job at Conde Nest AND her dream of being professiona...

23 Aug 202158min

How to Express Concern About Someone’s Mental Health and When to Shut Up About It

How to Express Concern About Someone’s Mental Health and When to Shut Up About It

It’s tricky. That’s what we found when we set out to answer a question we get a lot: “How do I approach a loved one who I’m worried about in terms of mental health?” Obviously, you want to let them kn...

16 Aug 202140min

Populärt inom Komedi

mellan-himmel-och-jord-med-jlc
ursakta
alex-sigges-podcast
den-som-skrattar-forlorar-podcast-2
hogt-i-tak-2
jocke-jonna-sanningen-maste-fram
filip-fredrik-svarar
gynning-berg
mardromsgasten
fordomspodden
rss-vafalls
skaringer-nessvold
alla-goda-ting-ar-tre
filip-fredrik-podcast
kafferepet
rss-vastgotapodden
da-ar-vi-igang
hor-har
wahlgren-wistam
killradet