Ordinary Unhappiness
A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now, featuring Abby Kluchin & Patrick Blanchfield
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 53 minutes
- Episodes
- 123
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
39: It’s Not You, It’s Lacan: The Mirror Stage, Part I
Abby, Patrick, and Dan kick off their 2024 Lacan era by tackling his single most famous essay and concept: the mirror stage. Because Lacan is notoriously difficult, this is going to take multiple epi…
38: Wild Analysis: Taylor Swift Teaser
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We set out to discuss the Eras tour film but got drawn into the bro…
UNLOCKED: 25: Wild Analysis: Barbie
Abby and Patrick are traveling, so enjoy this unlocked Patreon episode. Support Ordinary Unhappiness on Patreon to get access to all the exclusive episodes. patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness
We talk abo…
37: New Year’s Mailbag: The Capacity for Change Teaser
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We reflect on an (overdetermined) nine-month anniversary for Ordina…
36: Hate, Help, and Housing: Psychoanalysis and Social Work feat. Brian Ngo-Smith
Abby and Patrick welcome psychoanalyst and clinical social worker Brian Ngo-Smith, President of the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work (AAPCSW). Focusing on his paper “Th…
35: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 5: Fragments, Paranoia, and Projection: The Fliess Extracts, Continued feat. Christine Smallwood Teaser
In the latest installment of the Standard Edition, Abby continues the conversation about the Fliess Extracts section of SE Volume 1 with novelist and literary critic Christine Smallwood. We discuss f…
34: Fatphobia and Moral Feelings feat. Kate Manne
Abby and Patrick welcome philosopher Kate Manne, author of Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (2017), Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women (2020), and the forthcoming Unshrinking: How to Face Fatph…
33: The Problem with Empathy feat. Jade E. Davis
Abby and Patrick welcome Jade E. Davis, author of the new book The Other Side of Empathy. They discuss Jade’s critique of naïve notions of “empathy” and what she calls “empathy culture.” They examine…
32: Thanksgiving Special, Part 2: Murder, Myth, and Memory Teaser
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In the second – overstuffed – installment of our two-part Thanksgiv…
31: Thanksgiving Special, Part 1: The Holiday Syndrome Teaser
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In the first installment of our two-part Thanksgiving Special, we d…
UNLOCKED: 14: Standard Edition Volume I Part 1: Freud Goes to Paris
Friends! This week we are on deadline and/or under a terrifying pile of ungraded papers, so we're giving folks a chance to enter the wild world of The Standard Edition with this freshly unlocked epis…
30: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 4: Wilhelm Fliess: The Anxiety of Influence (and a Theory of Noses) feat. Christine Smallwood Teaser
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In the latest installment of the Standard Edition, we begin the Fli…
29: Gender, Trauma, and Psychoanalytic Politics feat. Avgi Saketopoulou and Ann Pellegrini
Abby and Patrick welcome psychoanalyst Avgi Saketopoulou and psychoanalyst and academic Ann Pellegrini to discuss their new co-authored book, Gender Without Identity. They talk about the genesis of t…
28: Wild Analysis: Halloween (1978) Teaser
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After a long chat about why people like and dislike horror – and an…
27: From HIV to COVID: Virality, Vulnerability, and Interdependence feat. Steven Thrasher
Abby and Patrick welcome Steven Thrasher, author of The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide. We discuss Steven’s singular career trajectory (from Saturday Night Live …
26: Standard Edition Volume 1 Part 3: Freud’s Two Dads Teaser
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The Standard Edition will be a regular monthly series going forward…
UNLOCKED: 05: Wild Analysis: Mailbag - Dream Interpretation
Unlocked Patreon episode. Support Ordinary Unhappiness on Patreon to get access to all the exclusive episodes. patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness
Abby and Patrick take your calls and talk about dream int…
25: Wild Analysis: Barbie TEASER
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We talk about one of the biggest cinematic releases of the year: Ba…
24: Drugs and the Death Drive feat. Ben Fong
Abby and Patrick welcome academic and writer Ben Fong, author of the new book Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge as well as Death and Mastery: Psychoanalytic Dri…
23: Puns, Jokes, and Serious People feat. Ben Wurgaft
Abby and Patrick welcome intellectual historian, writer, editor, and noted wordsmith Ben Wurgaft. They talk about Ben’s experiences with long-term analysis and discuss ways of accessing low-cost opti…