For nearly three years, I’ve been publishing episodes of The Depression Files podcast every other Sunday. These are interviews of men who have dealt with depression and/or other mental illnesses. I believe very strongly in the power of sharing stories as a way of chipping away at the stigma. The more we share our own stories, the more others are willing to share their stories and, more importantly, willing to reach out for the help they may need.

While I was originally planning to interview only men with depression, I soon realized that many of the men I was interviewing were dealing with other, usually co-existing, mental illnesses. While this wasn’t my intention, I’m so glad that it happened, as it has allowed the listeners (and selfishly, me) to learn about so many different types of mental illnesses.

In addition to the plethora of mental illnesses, I have intentionally sought out a vastly diverse group of men to interview. I’ve interviewed veterans, musicians, athletes, therapists, doctors, black men, a transgender man, authors, educators, firefighters, social workers, nurses, movie producers, gay men, tv personalities, and more!

I’ve finally come to a point where I am now expanding the show. I am now producing Bonus episodes. These episodes, published on some of the “off” Sundays, consist of an interview with someone on a topic related to mental illness, but not necessarily a lived story. Last Sunday (July 19, 2020), I published my first Bonus episode. This was an interview with Michael Pipich LMFT. Michael has focused his work on bipolar disorder and has even authored a book on the subject, Owning Bipolar: How Patients and Families Can Take Control of Bipolar Disorder.

I will soon be publishing a Bonus episode of an interview with Dr. Peter Gutierrez on the topic of suicide and another Bonus episode with Dr. Sam Ko on the topic of delivering ketamine intravenously to treat drug-resistant depression. Other topics that I hope to publish include a patient who has received ketamine or a psychedelic for treatment of depression (or another mental illness), family members living with someone with a mental illness, and patients who have received less common treatments for their mental illness.

There are several ways that you can help to support the program: 1) Leaving a rating and review on iTunes (by going to the show on iTunes and clicking on “Ratings and Reviews”), 2) Subscribe/Follow the show, or 3) Donate through my Patreon page to help me offset the cost of the show.

As always, questions and/or comments to this post (or any others) is welcomed and encouraged. In addition, feel free to email me at thedepressionfiles@gmail.com with suggestions of other Bonus episodes or simply to connect with me. Thank you for the support!