Episodes

When I was a kid, I questioned rules that didn’t make sense. I resisted illegitimate authority. I could be difficult, inquisitive, sometimes arrogant. My dad used to joke that I had oppositional defiant disorder, or ODD, a behavioral diagnosis for kids who are uncooperative and defiant toward authority. But I never saw that part of myself as disordered. I saw someone concerned about the world, unwilling to bow to coercion or incompetent control. Dr. Bruce Levine, my guest today, might’ve had ...

When Elon Musk publicly revealed he uses ketamine to manage his depression, the revelation sent shockwaves through both tech and mental health communities. Here was one of the world’s most high-profile figures openly discussing his struggle with depression and choosing a treatment that most people associate with anesthesia or illicit raves. But Musk isn’t an outlier. He’s part of a growing movement of people turning to ketamine when traditional antidepressants have failed them. Ketamine has h...

What if the future of mental health treatment involves substances we’ve spent decades criminalizing? For years, psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA were dismissed as dangerous drugs with no medical value. But a growing body of research suggests these substances, when combined with guided therapy, might help people struggling with depression, PTSD, anxiety, and addiction in ways traditional treatments cannot. The question is no longer whether psychedelics work, but how to integrate them safely ...

Exercise is practically a religion in modern culture. We’re told it helps us sleep better, lose weight, reduce anxiety, and lower our risk of countless diseases. So like millions of others, I’ve stayed active—triathlons, marathons, spin classes, yoga, and for the past three years, high-intensity workouts at Orange Theory. But somewhere in my early 30s, I started noticing something disturbing: exercise seemed to come at a cost. It didn’t matter when I worked out or what kind of exercise I did....

When you listen to an audiobook, especially fiction, you want to be transported, swept into another world where characters feel real and scenes play like movies in your mind. A great narrator doesn’t just read words; they breathe life into them, transforming text into an immersive experience. Take Andy Serkis’ narration of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. One listener described his performance this way: “He’s not just giving characters unique voices and emotions; he’s acting the scenes ...

Cancer doesn’t discriminate. It strikes scientists and artists, children and the elderly, the famous and the unknown. We’ve all felt its cruel grip, whether through our own diagnosis or watching someone we love fight a battle they might not win. Despite decades of research and billions of dollars invested, cancer continues to outsmart us, evolving faster than our treatments, defying our understanding. Why is this so hard? Dr. Zuzana Kečkéšová thinks the answer might be found not in tumors the...

Would you believe me if I told you that the flowers in your window and the trees in your yard are actually sophisticated chemical laboratories, producing compounds that could cure disease? Plants can’t run from predators or hide from harsh weather. So over 450 million years of evolution, they developed something better: chemistry. To survive, plants engineered intricate metabolic systems that produce thousands of specialized chemicals that attract pollinators, poison herbivores, and fight off...

In early 2024, Kaitlyn Gilbert, a designer I’ve worked with for several years, reached out after hearing me discuss my book The Healing Book on a podcast. “I see parallels in our stories that are too striking to pass up,” she wrote. She wanted to share her own healing story, one that involved her parents’ unexpected divorce, leaving corporate life during the pandemic, and finding solace in the most unlikely place for a millennial designer: daily readings of The Bible. I’m not religious myself...