I just listened to this conversation between Dan Harris and John Green and found it really insightful:
John Green has spent 25 years building a toolkit for living with OCD and depression, while also writing some of the most beloved novels of the last two decades, co-founding Crash Course, and raising a family. He’s one of the most candid public voices on mental illness, and this conversation is a wide-ranging look at what actually helps. John Green is the author of The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down, and the new book Everything Is Tuberculosis. He is also the co-creator of the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers and the educational platform Crash Course, which he runs with his brother Hank Green. In this conversation, John shares:
- What 25 years of working on OCD and depression has taught him — and why the periods of challenge don’t go away, but can shrink
- How OCD works: why it targets what you love most, and why compulsions make things worse over time
- Why thoughts are just thoughts — and how to actually feel that, not just know it intellectually
- The “anything mentionable is manageable” principle, and how writing fiction became a way to give form to shame
- Why purpose, creative work, and collaboration are central to his mental health
- His time as a chaplain in a children’s cancer ward — and why he describes it as the axis of his life
- What he means by hope — and why “everything happens for a reason” doesn’t work for him
- Why we conflate what’s easy to measure with what’s actually important
- The two things about his teenage self he never wants to lose
If you are struggling with a mental health challenge, please reach out to us or a mental health professional in your community.
—
This post does not constitute therapeutic counseling or advice; the contents of this post are provided as a learning resource. We share the contents hoping that if you are in need of mental health support you will reach out to us directly or to a mental health professional in your area.
Share this message and then subscribe to this newsletter by signing up below.