Joe Rogan Experience #1374 - Justin Wren

Wren’s years in remote African rainforests left him with schistosomiasis, multiple malarias, dengue, and likely drug toxicities (mefloquine, Cipro), creating chronic vomiting, shingles, neurological issues, and systemic inflammation that many doctors initially missed or misattributed.

Case examples (a teen car‑crash victim and a drowned child) plus Wren’s own experience suggest that repeated hyperbaric sessions can improve sleep, mood, cognitive function, concussion recovery, and potentially reverse some brain trauma by flooding tissue with oxygen and boosting stem cell activity.

Wren’s brain scans show a “ring of fire” pattern consistent with PTSD, which he traces to armed encounters, fleeing rebel attacks, watching children die, and childhood abuse and bullying—underscoring that severe trauma outside combat can profoundly imprint the brain.

CDC data cited in the conversation show youths who are bullied, youths who bully, and especially those who are both are at highest suicide risk; Wren frames this as “hurt people hurt people,” arguing prevention must cultivate empathy and positive identity, not only punish aggressors.

Wren’s Heroes in Waiting program uses 12 weeks of lessons and weekly “hero challenges” (e.g., anonymous acts of kindness, refusing to be a passive bystander) to move kids from bystanders to upstanders and to normalize everyday, quiet heroism.