Ready to begin or deepen your meditation practice? Join Dan Harris and world-class meditation teachers on the 10% with Dan Harris app here: https://app.danharris.com/membership --- 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 --- Subscribe to watch more 10% Happier videos: https://www.youtube.com/tenpercenthappier Follow Dan Harris on Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/danharris/ https://www.tiktok.com/@danbharris https://www.facebook.com/DanHarrisABC https://twitter.com/danbharris https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-harris-91ba5716b/ --- Timestamps: 0:00:00 How John is doing — and why that answer changes day to day 0:01:00 25 years of building a mental health toolkit: what's changed 0:03:00 How OCD and depression relate to each other 0:04:00 The radon example: how OCD works and why compulsions backfire 0:07:00 The blizzard of thoughts — and the wrong way to respond 0:09:00 What counts as being productive? John's brother on producing your own joy 0:11:00 Creative work, purpose, and collaboration as mental health tools 0:13:00 Writing as a mirror and a window 0:14:00 Why creative work also produces despair — and why hard isn't the opposite of fulfilling 0:15:00 *Everything Is Tuberculosis* — writing about the thing that terrifies you 0:18:00 Why a million people a year die of a disease we've known how to cure since the 1950s 0:20:00 The US government's pullback from global health funding and its direct consequences 0:25:00 The insubstantiality of the self — and why that's actually good news 0:27:00 Thoughts are just thoughts: the intellectual vs. visceral understanding 0:28:00 The Buddhist practice of asking "what is a thought?" 0:33:00 Shame reduction through naming — anything mentionable is manageable 0:36:00 Labeling emotions in meditation and why it creates distance 0:37:00 Helping other people as a tool for managing your own mental health 0:38:00 How to avoid paralysis in a world full of problems — the long-term view 0:41:00 The view from outside your own head — decreasing the suck as a team 0:42:00 John's broadly pro-human worldview — and what Vonnegut got wrong 0:44:00 Six months as a chaplain in a children's hospital — and its lasting impact 0:47:00 Where John stands on God — and why he's more interested in what God wants than whether God exists 0:53:00 What hope actually means — and why "everything happens for a reason" doesn't cut it 0:56:00 The magic of the teenage self: earnestness and ferocity in love 0:59:00 Letting friendships lapse and the work of getting them back 1:01:00 The new novel: Hollywood, the social internet, and what we give up when we share ourselves 1:03:00 The ambivalence of public vulnerability — what you lose when you share --- #mentalhealth #OCD #depression --- This episode is sponsored by: **Paleo Valley** — 100% grass-fed beef sticks made without preservatives or additives. Get 15% off at https://www.paleovalley.com/happier or use code HAPPIER at checkout **Square** — Business tools with AI, smart reporting, and payments all in one place. Get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://www.square.com/go/happier **Gainbridge** — Guaranteed-rate financial products with no hidden fees. Learn more at https://www.gainbridge.com **LinkedIn Ads** — Reach the right professionals with precision targeting. Spend $250 and get a $250 credit at http://www.linkedin.com/happier