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We got a real Senator on the show
Sometimes the system works. In the wake of Senator John Fetterman’s well-known battle with major depressive disorder, I recalled that he was not the first senator I’d heard speak about a struggle with depression. Tina Smith, the junior senator from my state of Minnesota, had been candid in the past about the times that she’s dealt with the illness.
So I wrote a letter to her press office and asked if she would come on the podcast of one of her constituents, me, to talk about depression and to talk about what’s happening in Washington in terms of congressional action on mental health. And they said okay! Apparently, Sen. Smith has been following my career for a while, or so she said, and as a voter in Minnesoter, I’d been following hers as well.
In our interview, we talk about her experiences with Clinny D, first as a college student in the late 1970s, when not much was know or acknowledged about depression, and then again in her thirties after her kids were born. We also get into what’s happening with legislation, including ideas floating around to make it easier for people to train to be therapists and psychiatrists and ways to make it easier for community healthcare organizations to work with schools to make it easier for young people to access mental health services. I even asked her about whether she supports the idea, gaining momentum around the country, for students to be able to take mental health days off from school when they’re not feeling physically ill.
People are more miserable at work than they were before
Or maybe people are more miserable than they were before and they happen to have jobs? Or maybe jobs themselves make people miserable and the whole model of going to work usually to enrich someone else is just fundamentally fucked up and broken?
Or maybe we’re just in a mental health crisis that does not seem to be getting any better?
The problem: workers feel overwhelmed and unable to take a break. According to the study, 37% said their level of engagement is lower than six months ago. Yet, it also showed that employees are working harder than ever. For instance, "48% with declining mental health say they work 50+ hours per week," and 69% also "say they are applying more effort than is expected at their job occasionally or consistently compared to six months ago."
The implications: companies may have to offer more flexible work arrangements, including work-free vacation time off and hybrid work, to help improve their workers’ well-being.
The phrase that bothers me the most here? “Work-free vacation time”. Because, like, isn’t that what vacation time is supposed to already be? But it’s not that way because even on vacation you’re probably checking your email anyway, right? Technology: it saves us so much time!
Link between marijuana use and mental illness?
Well, that’s what this article posits. Or at least asks about. Wonders about. Some such. Also, are responsible adults just calling it “weed” now? Seems too slangy, right? I think “pot” works but maybe that’s out of style. “Dope”? No. I think I’ll go back to “reefer”. So yeah so there might be a problem with reefer.
One of the studies, from researchers in Denmark in collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, found evidence of an association between cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia. The finding was most striking in young men ages 21-30, but was also seen in women of the same age.
The paper, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, looked at data from almost 7 million men and women in Denmark over the course of a few decades to look for a link between schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder.
But a link doesn’t necessarily mean that one thing leads to the other.
Because research to date has been observational and doesn’t directly prove cause and effect, the connection between marijuana and psychiatric disorders is controversial. It’s unclear whether people who already have or are developing psychiatric conditions are more likely to turn to cannabis as a way to self-medicate or whether cannabis use triggers mental problems.
Am I having mental health problems because I smoke reefer or do I smoke reefer to help soothe myself from these mental health problems? The answer is clear: “Reefer” is an awesome word and I’m sticking with it. Minnesota is in the process of legalizing recreational reefer.
According to researchers, researchers are having some problems
And they should know. They’re researchers.
Researchers are much more likely than the general population to experience depression and anxiety. And although the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in mental-health struggles, many argue that it only exacerbated problems that were already present. The recent studies, which have collectively surveyed tens of thousands of researchers worldwide, suggest that scientists’ mental-health struggles are a direct result of a toxic research culture.
Among the toxic effects: bullying
Triple play for the kid from St Paul!
Before the finale of Succession aired, the folks at SB Nation trotted out a theory on why underdog Tom Wambsgans might be the one to finish on top at the end of the series. It has to do with Tom’s almost-namesake, Bill Wambsganss, a Cleveland baseball player from over a hundred years ago.
What’s interesting about Wambsganss in relation to Succession is the greatest play he ever made — the only unassisted triple play in World Series history.
In Game 5 of the 1920 World Series, in the fifth inning, Clarence Mitchell of the Brooklyn Robins hit a line drive to second, which Wambsganss caught for the out. He stepped on the base to retire Pete Kilduff, and he tagged Otto Miller out on Miller’s way to second.
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Tom Wambsgans will need an unassisted triple play, sending Shiv, Kendall, and Roman to the dugout, if he’s going to step into Logan’s very expensive shoes. We’ll find out on Sunday if his name really is a nod to Bill Wambsganss’ big World Series play.