Ordinary Unhappiness
A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now, featuring Abby Kluchin & Patrick Blanchfield
Episodes
74 episodes since 2023
69: Truth, Lies, and Conspiracy Theories feat. Liz Franczak
Abby, Patrick, and Dan welcome the incomparable Liz Franczak of TrueAnon! The topic is conspiracy theories, from real to imagined, documented to discredited, ludicrous to all-too-likely, and more. The first half of the episode is ground-clearin...
September 14, 2024
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Episode 69
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2:05:06
68: Gerontophallocracy 2024: The September Debate: Domination and Other Pleasures Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan process last night’s Tru...
September 11, 2024
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Episode 68
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4:20
67: Gerontophallocracy 2024: Lethal Mothers and Try-Hard Sons feat. Sam Adler-Bell Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick are joined by friend of the sh...
September 07, 2024
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Episode 67
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13:02
66: Teens, Cops, and Spies: The Varieties of Hysterical Experience feat. Dan Taberski
Abby and Patrick welcome Dan Taberski, creator of the brand-new podcast series Hysterical. They explore the genesis of the series and the challenges and rewards of confronting both the history and the present of “the H-word.” Tracking ...
August 31, 2024
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Episode 66
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1:24:39
65: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 11: The Project for a Scientific Psychology Part 2 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 journey t...
August 24, 2024
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Episode 65
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6:24
64: Grief, Loss, and Love feat. Sarah Jaffe
Abby and Patrick welcome labor journalist Sarah Jaffe – author of Necessary Trouble and Work Won’t Love You Back – for her first interview about her forthcoming book, From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire. From the Ashes is at...
August 17, 2024
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Episode 64
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1:44:26
63: The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, Part I Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Dan get into the first part of Slavoj ...
August 10, 2024
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Episode 63
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6:17
62: Lacan and Psychosis in the City feat. Loren Dent
Abby and Patrick welcome Loren Dent, a clinical psychologist in the Lacanian tradition. The topic is psychosis, both as understood theoretically by Freud and Lacan, and also as experienced and encountered by real people in New York City, where ...
August 03, 2024
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Episode 62
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2:07:14
61: Gerontophallocracy 2024: Reality Testing and Temporal Distortion (It’s So Joever) Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick power through COVID brain fog ...
July 23, 2024
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Episode 61
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3:34
60: Love and Work feat. Joseph Earl Thomas
Abby and Patrick welcome writer and academic Joseph Earl Thomas, author of the 2023 memoir Sink and a new novel, God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer. Set over the course of a single, chaotic day in a North Philadelphia hospital, Th...
July 20, 2024
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Episode 60
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1:40:34
59: Gerontophallocracy 2024: The June Debate Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessThe season is here. The time is now. It’s the m...
June 30, 2024
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Episode 59
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2:45
58: Wild Analysis: The Idea of You feat. Anna Shechtman Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan are joined by writer, ac...
June 29, 2024
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Episode 58
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2:41
57: “Do More Crosswords!” The Sexual Politics of Language feat. Anna Shechtman
Abby and Patrick welcome writer, academic, and cruciverbalist Anna Shechtman, author of The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle, a book that’s part personal memoir, part cultural history, and ...
June 22, 2024
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Episode 57
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1:30:20
56: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 10: The Project for a Scientific Psychology Part 1 Teaser
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 one of Freud’s e...
June 15, 2024
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Episode 56
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5:22
55: What is the Pleasure Principle? feat. Rebecca Ariel Porte
Abby and Patrick welcome scholar and literary critic Rebecca Ariel Porte of Dilettante Army and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research to talk about the key Freudian concept of the pleasure principle. Starting with Freud’s 1911 ess...
June 01, 2024
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Episode 55
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1:50:40
54: Wild Analysis: Challengers 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 a postgame ...
May 25, 2024
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Episode 54
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2:37
53: Broke Psychoanalysis: Harlem’s Lafargue Clinic feat. Kevin Duong
Patrick and Abby welcome politics professor Kevin Duong to discuss his research on the history of the Lafargue Clinic (1946-1958), an experiment in radical psychoanalysis aimed at providing free care to marginalized community members in the Har...
May 18, 2024
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Episode 53
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1:34:37
52: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 9: Repression is a Scorpio: The Final Fliess Extracts feat. Christine Smallwood Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessIn the final installment of the Fliess Extracts...
May 11, 2024
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Episode 52
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4:35
51: Psychoanalysis and Gaza feat. Jess Ghannam
Abby and Patrick welcome Palestinian psychoanalyst and psychologist Dr. Jess Ghannam to talk about his twenty-five years of work doing empirical research and carrying out public health initiatives in Gaza. They discuss his studies of mental hea...
May 04, 2024
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Episode 51
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1:23:15
50: Political Disappointment feat. Sara Marcus
Abby and Patrick are joined by academic, journalist, and critic Sara Marcus, author of the 2023 book Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis. After recalling their own experiences of politica...
April 27, 2024
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Episode 50
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1:12:33
49: Wild Analysis: Civil War Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessWhile Abby’s voice is still gone, Dan and Patri...
April 20, 2024
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Episode 49
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5:03
UNLOCKED: 21: Wild Analysis: The Trauma Plot and the Joss Whedon Extended Cinematic Universe
Abby lost her voice, so we're unlocking a favorite from behind the paywall! We'll be back next week with more Wild Analysis followed by an interview with the brilliant Sara Marcus on her book Political Disappointment. Unlocked Patreon e...
April 13, 2024
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1:35:21
48: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 8: Oedipus Approaches: The Fliess Extracts, Continued feat. Christine Smallwood Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessIn the latest installment of the Standard Editi...
April 06, 2024
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Episode 48
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2:24
47: Extraction, Exhaustion, and the Problem with Resilience feat. Ajay Singh Chaudhary
Abby and Patrick welcome Ajay Singh Chaudhary, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and author of The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World. In our conversation, Ajay breaks down competing left...
March 30, 2024
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Episode 47
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2:07:59