MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries

My 10-year-old son and I have been enjoying this together since it started. We love trying to find clues in the details and react dramatically to gross moments or big reveals. He especially enjoys hearing what will happen to the follow button each week, and has come up with his own ideas for what should befall the follow button. In fact, he would love a place to submit ideas! (A couple are really good—like “buy the follow button a ticket on the next space flight, but make it a cheap flight with only enough fuel for the outward journey.”)

This is one of my favorite podcasts and I get so excited when it pops up with a new episode. Great narration and captivating content. I rarely listen to every single episode of a podcast but this one I do!

This is the perfect type of podcast for those that are tired of murder mysteries that celebrate criminals. Great storytelling very suspenseful. Highly recommended! Wish there was a subreddit to discuss the episodes on

This is a great podcast. The host has a wonderful voice; a beautiful timbre in tone and excellent pacing make each story a pleasure to listen to, minus one glaring flaw. The host uses the word “totally” much too often. If it were a drinking game, we’d all be three sheets to the wind by the end of each episode! At first, it was kind of silly. Now it’s become a bit of an annoying earworm to me. Seems like running the script through AI software might help, as the word “totally” appears at least six or seven times per episode. Sometimes more! Until then, here’s a helpful list: Synonyms for the word "totally" include: completely, fully, utterly, quite, perfectly, wholly, all, and thoroughly. (And sometimes an adverb is not needed.) One star removed for overuse of that word which reduces the effectiveness of the stories. Overall, I recommend all of Mr. Ballen’s work!

There are so many issues with the company “Better Help.” There have been too many reported patient issues with this brand to still be promoting them. Their counselors are not trained to diagnose anybody with anything, they offer generic advice and coping mechanisms if they offer anything at all. They thrive on a quantity over quality model of business and many people seeking actual mental health support and help never truly get their needs met, just their money taken. One of their marketing claims is that patients can switch counselors anytime they don’t feel they are adequately matched or aren’t getting their needs met, and they say this because that is exactly what patients do multiple times before giving up because they often dont find the kind of care, professionalism and specific treatment with their counselors to get their needs met and actually feel “better,” and they never will. It’s a waste of money and hope that prays on people’s desperation to seek much needed mental health treatment that they can afford, but it’s junk and ends up leaving people broke, and even more helpless. It’s interesting that Mr. Ballen recently read an entirely new pitch sponsoring “Better Help” in the last couple of episodes I’ve listened to advertising the motivation for joining as “reigniting your sense of wonder and curiosity about the world like when you were a kid” (paraphrased, not quoted) as opposed to the older pitches specifically coming from a treatment for mental health standpoint. THIS IS PURPOSEFUL. Maybe not on John’s end, who knows what he’s being told, but definitely on his paid sponser “Better Help’s.” They know their model for mental health support is failing because it’s literally not helping people, but rather ripping them off and leaving them potentially in worse conditions mentally, so they now have to spin the advertising towards the new engaging angle of “reclaim your sense of childhood wonder” with “Better Help.” It’s not going to work for that either because the company hires too many unqualified counselors who are assigned too many patients, and spend too little time with them to give any one patient the quality attention, guidance and care they may actually need. PLEASE STOP TAKING PAID SPONSORSHIPS FROM THIS COMPANY AND PLEASE STOP PROMOTING IT TO YOUR LISTENERS. Let “Better Help” just fizzle out and fail by losing their customer base due to incompetency and low quality service, because they are not going to make anyone better, nor are they themselves going to get better. At least if they do crash and burn they won’t victimize an already vulnerable member of society any more and maybe those patients still paying for services they aren’t receiving will be free to find better resources to help them.

The content has so much potential. Unfortunately, the host’s cadence and pronunciation ruin it. It sounds like he’s trying to be a TV news anchor. Over emphasizing the letter a (AAA big box) but then saying the more common uh sound in several sentences. Same with thEE (theeee list of gripes about this podcaster) makes thuuuh whole thing hard to listen to. Bummer.