
Ordinary Unhappiness
A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now, featuring Abby Kluchin & Patrick Blanchfield
Episodes
103 episodes
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

UNLOCKED: 49: Wild Analysis: Civil War
We're off this weekend, but here's a thematically appropriate episode from earlier this year. Come find us on Patreon for our recent political coverage, The Standard Edition series, and more Wild Analysis. We'll be back next Saturday.--...
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1:54:12

77: Gerontophallocracy 2024: Post-Election Processing Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan sit down for an immediat...
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Episode 77
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9:50

76: Gerontophallocracy 2024: Floating Signifiers Teaser
It’s the last installment of Gerontophallocracy 2024 before the election. Abby, Patrick, and Dan process the vibes both in The Discourse and here in Pennsylvania (chaotic and bad); reflect on Harris on Call Her Daddy versus Trump on Ro...
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Episode 76
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9:26

75: Psychosocial Realism feat. Daniel Lavery
Abby and Patrick welcome writer Daniel Lavery to talk about his superb new book Women’s Hotel. Lavery’s novel conjures a now-vanished institution (low cost, long term residential communities for working women) in a since-disappeared la...
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Episode 75
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1:17:02

74: The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, 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 continue their watch-thr...
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Episode 74
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4:39

73: Romance Was Never Real: From Courtly Love to the Rise of the Fuckboy feat. Sabrina Strings
Abby and Patrick welcome Sabrina Strings, professor and North Hall Chair of Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara, to talk about her new book, The End of Love: Racism, Sexism, and the Death of Romance. The book is both a deep dive into the genealog...
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Episode 73
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1:29:36
