
Ordinary Unhappiness
A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now, featuring Abby Kluchin & Patrick Blanchfield
Episodes
107 episodes
98: From Boundaries to Attachment: The Uses and Abuses of Pop Psychology feat. Lily Scherlis
Abby and Patrick are joined by writer and artist Lily Scherlis for a provocative reflection on the ideological subtexts, historical contexts, and real-world value of some of our moment’s most bandied-about concepts and terms. Beginning with her...
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Episode 98
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1:47:38

97: Standard Edition Volume 2 Part 2: Studies on Hysteria, Part II: Anna O.
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan turn to the fi...
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Episode 97
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3:38

96: Mediating Motherhood feat. Hannah Zeavin
Abby and Patrick welcome returning guest Hannah Zeavin – scholar, write, editor, co-founder of the Psychosocial Foundation and Founding Editor of Parapraxis magazine – to talk about her brand-new book, Mother Media: Hot and Cool Pa...
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Episode 96
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1:33:16

95: Wild Analysis: Severance Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessBy popular request, it’s the Ordinary Unhappines...
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Episode 95
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5:34

UNLOCKED: 42: Wild Analysis: The President’s Analyst
Unlocked Patreon episode. Support Ordinary Unhappiness on Patreon to get access to all the exclusive episodes. patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessIn a perfect pairing with our ongoing seri...
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1:25:55

94: Standard Edition Volume 2 Part 1: Pearls of Suffering: Studies on Hysteria, Part I Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick begin the Standard Edition Volu...
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Episode 94
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3:44

93: On Emma Jung feat. Ann Conrad Lammers
Abby and Patrick welcome Ann Conrad Lammers, a Jungian psychotherapist and the primary editor and assistant translator of Dedicated to the Soul: The Writings and Drawings of Emma Jung, a brand-new volume from Princeton University Press...
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Episode 93
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1:23:34

92: Gerontophallocracy 2025: The Primitive Accumulation Monster Dad at the End of History Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessFor the first time since the inaugura...
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Episode 92
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4:02

91: Feminism, Antagonism, and Solidarity feat. Sophie Lewis
Abby and Patrick welcome author Sophie Lewis to discuss her latest book, Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation. Together, they explore the history of a variety of feminisms, self-identified and otherwise, that c...
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Episode 91
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1:37:05

90: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 12: The Project for a Scientific Psychology Part 3 Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan close out The Project...
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Episode 90
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4:20

89: Breath, Vulnerability, and Interdependence feat. Jamieson Webster
Abby and Patrick welcome psychoanalyst and author Jamieson Webster to discuss her brand-new book, On Breathing: Care in a Time of Catastrophe, out in March 2025 from Catapult. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that traverses clinical, s...
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Episode 89
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1:08:16

88: On Hate and Aggression, Part IV Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan put Winnicott’s ideas abo...
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Episode 88
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2:30

Episode 87: On Hate and Aggression, Part III
Abby, Patrick, and Dan conclude their close reading of Winnicott’s “Hate in the Counter-Transference,” unpacking and tying together its three biggest arguments. First, there’s the connection Winnicott draws between the therapeutic encounter and...
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Episode 87
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1:46:48

86: On Hate and Aggression, Part II Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan start close-reading Winn...
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Episode 86
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3:55

85: On Hate and Aggression, Part I
Abby, Patrick, and Dan take up a topic that couldn’t be more relevant to the contemporary zeitgeist – aggression – as theorized by an unlikely source: the British analyst and pediatrician D.W. Winnicott. What did this beloved and famously gentl...
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Episode 85
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1:35:35

84: New Year Vibe Check: I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan get together for a looki...
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Episode 84
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11:23

83: Religion and Neurosis feat. Nathan Rein Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick sit down with religious studie...
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Episode 83
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9:47

82: Effing the Ineffable feat. Simon Critchley
Abby and Patrick are joined by philosopher Simon Critchley to discuss his new book, On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy. They discuss how, for Critchley, mysticism represents "a way of thinking about existential ecstasy that is out...
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Episode 82
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1:26:57

81: Mailbag Part II: Readings and Misreadings Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan shake off the Holiday Sy...
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Episode 81
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6:18

80: On Fantasy feat. Jordan Stein
Abby and Patrick welcome writer and scholar Jordan Stein to tackle a fundamental psychoanalytic concept that’s also a fundamentally slippery one: fantasy. What, exactly, are these things we call “fantasies,” which arise in a liminal zone betwee...
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Episode 80
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1:15:58

UNLOCKED: 31: Thanksgiving Special, Part 1: The Holiday Syndrome
Unlocked Patreon episode. Support Ordinary Unhappiness on Patreon to get access to all the exclusive episodes. patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessIn the first installment of our two-part ...
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1:50:36

79: Mailbag Episode: Resistances (Part One) Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan respond to your questions! They talk teaching Freud in high school and beyond, in...
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Episode 79
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3:43

78: Reactionary Fantasies: On “Cancel Culture” and Moral Panic feat. Adrian Daub
Abby and Patrick welcome academic, writer, and In Bed With the Right podcast co-host Adrian Daub to discuss his new book, The Cancel Culture Panic: How An American Obsession Went Global. Daub’s book is an exploration of the di...
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Episode 78
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1:33:19
