Jonah Davids' Podcast

Andrew Cutler is a data scientist who blogs about psychometrics, evolution, and consciousness at “ Vectors of Mind .” He and I teamed up to record an episode on the psychological and religious views of Jordan Peterson, a figure we consider to be the most influential psychologist of this century. We discuss influences on Peterson’s psychology, why his work has been so appealing to young men, the na...

Ashley Frawley is a sociologist at the University of Kent, a columnist at Compact Magazine, and the COO of Sublation Media. She joins me to talk about her new paper “ Constructing a Crisis: Mental Health, Higher Education and Policy Entrepreneurs .” The paper explores how the narrative of a mental health crisis amongst UK university students was created and perpetuated, and what this teaches us ab...

Carolyn Gorman is a Paulson Policy Analyst at the Manhattan Institute studying mental health policy. She joins me to discuss her new report “ School-Based Mental-Health Initiatives: Challenges and Considerations for Policymakers, ” which explores the history of mental health programs in schools and examines the limited evidence supporting their effectiveness. We talk about the different types of s...

Jules Evans is the Director of the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project and the lead author and editor of the Substack newsletter Ecstatic Integration . Kristin Nash is the executive director of the William G. Nash Foundation which focuses on harm reduction and psychedelic safety, and is involved with an important initiative to improve public communication on psychedelics as part of the new...

William Fleming holds a PhD in sociology from The University of Cambridge, and is currently a post-doctoral research fellow at Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Center. He joins me on the podcast to talk about the lack of evidence for workplace mental health and wellbeing initiatives. William starts by giving a history of workplace wellbeing initiatives tracing back to the British Quakers who...

Caleb Ontiveros is the founder of Stoa , an app that combines the ancient philosophy of stoicism with mindfulness and meditation. He writes The Stoa Letter , co-hosts the podcast Stoa Conversations , and is the editor of The Classical Futurist . Caleb and I talk about the philosophy of Stoicism and what Stoics have to say about psychology, mental health, and human flourishing. We discuss Stoic con...

Awais Aftab is a psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University and writes the substack Psychiatry at the Margins . I invited him on the podcast to talk about how criticisms of psychiatry – such as critical, philosophical, and anti-psychiatry – affect mainstream theory and practice. We also discuss his recent exchange with Mad in America founder Robe...

John Hirschauer is an assistant editor for City Journal and a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at The Fund for American Studies. I invited him on the podcast to talk about the history, ethics, and politics of deinstitutionalization, which he has reported on extensively. In the first half of the conversation, John provides a detailed history of institutionalization in America, and how state schools f...

Kevin McCaffree is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of North Texas, author of multiple books, editor of the journals Theoretical Sociology and Evolutionary Analysis in the Social Sciences, and a chief researcher at the Skeptic Research Center. I invited him to talk about his new paper “ Pulling Back the Curtain on Suicide Research ,” which shows that decades of suicide research h...

Mel is an ex-management consultant who now writes about the mental health economy and startup world. I invited her on the podcast to ask her about the latest trends in mental health tech and therapy, and where she thinks the industry is headed. Both of us are excited about the potential for new tech, drugs, and therapies to improve mental health, or at least make mental health treatments more acce...

Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal. I invited him on the podcast to talk about his recent article “ How I Changed my Mind About Marijuana .” As Charles says in our podcast, the public debate around marijuana has largely been about whether criminalization is bad rather than whether legalization is good. Since it’s been legalized, the...

Stephen Eide is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal . I invited him on the podcast to talk about how moral and epistemic values structure public policy debates around homelessness and mental illness. We talk about how relativism has paved the way for a team-up between “trust the science” technocrats and those with the right kinds of “lived experienc...

Most mental health podcasts are pretty boring, emotion-oriented, and non-controversial. So I’m starting the Mental Disorder podcast to try and do something different. Mental health is a serious problem, and to think about it coherently requires us to engage with science, politics, and philosophy. Every two weeks, I’ll be releasing a conversation with an expert, journalist, or practitioner working...