Ordinary Unhappiness

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 Volume II. Their first text is Freud and Breuer’s famous Studies on Hysteria (1895), specifically its opening sections. First, they unpack the layered and suggestive series of Prefaces to successive editions of the book, revealing how each iteration charts the differing personal, professional, and theoretical trajectories of the two authors over time, and how they reveal Freud’s distinctive approach to memorializing his own intellectual development. Then they turn to the opening essay, originally published in 1893, “On the Psychical Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena: Preliminary Communication.” Topics include the so-called “cathartic method,” the question of origins, the tensions and productivities of collaborative dialogues (not just between Freud and Breuer, but between these men and their female patients), and our first glimpses of Freud as a distinctively “coy” stylist. Abby and Patrick also dip into deep waters about questions of contingency and of origins – of symptoms, of cures, and of human suffering more generally – and how injuries to the psyche follow logics of causality, temporality, meaning, and alleviation that are all markedly different from those governing other traumas. Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you’ve traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! (646) 450-0847  A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness Twitter: @UnhappinessPod Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Theme song: Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO Provided by Fruits Music

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. Going against the grain of traditional narratives that present Emma as a helpmeet to her more famous husband, this collection brings together for the first time many of Emma Jung’s works across a variety of media and genres, highlighting her outsize contributions, both material and intellectual, to the tradition known as Analytical Psychology. The wide-ranging conversation explores Emma’s biography, her ambitions, and her intellectual preoccupations. The three also dig into the story of how Emma managed the complications, at once personal and professional, of simultaneously being the wife of Carl Jung, a foundational player in several analytic institutions, a deeply respected correspondent of Sigmund Freud, and a clinician in her own right. What emerges is a tale of betrayals and boundary violations, but also of growth, resilience, and the confrontation of lifelong tasks, with implications not just for how we understand the often-neglected stories of many women clinicians in the early decades of psychoanalysis, but the stakes of confronting patriarchy while embracing the work of therapy in the present.Selected texts: Ann Conrad Lammers, Thomas Fischer, and Medea Hoch, editors. Dedicated to the Soul: The Writings and Drawings of Emma Jung, Princeton University Press, 2025.Ann Conrad Lammers. ‘Emma Jung’s Years of Self-Liberation.’ Essay available at:  https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/emma-jungs-years-of-self-liberation. Ferne Jensen and Sidney Mullen, editors. C.G. Jung, Emma Jung and Toni Wolff: A Collection of Remembrances. The Analytical Psychology Club of San Francisco, 1982Emma Jung and Marie-Louise Von Franz. The Grail Legend. Princeton University Press, 1998.Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you’ve traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! (646) 450-0847A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappinessTwitter: @UnhappinessPodInstagram: @OrdinaryUnhappinessPatreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessTheme song:Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxOProvided by Fruits Music

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 inauguration, our series metabolizing the ongoing chaos of American politics returns. That’s right: Gerontophallocracy is back! The topic is a certain grandiose deadbeat manchild patriarch who has succeeded in making himself even more of a ubiquitous object of speculation than Donald Trump: Elon Musk. But instead of focusing on Elon’s erratic behavior and personal symptoms, Abby, Patrick, and Dan tackle the question of Musk’s existence and prominence as a symptom of underlying political economic and libidinal economic conditions. It’s a tale of the Return of the (Barely) Repressed extending from religious myths to secular fictions and from the dawn of patriarchy and emergence of private property to the dream of a future where the scions of billionaires can plant their flags and dynasties on Mars. It’s a lot. Texts include:Friedrich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (available at https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/)Sigmund Freud, Totem and TabooKarl Marx, “The Secret of Primitive Accumulation,” in Capital Vol I (available at https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch26.htm)Robert Paul, "Yes, the Primal Crime Did Take Place," in Our Two-Track Minds: Rehabilitating Freud on CultureCarole Pateman, The Sexual ContractHave you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you’ve traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! (646) 450-0847  A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness Twitter: @UnhappinessPod Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Theme song: Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO Provided by Fruits Music

Sophie Lewis, author of "Enemy Feminisms" and a recovering academic, joins the conversation to discuss the complexities of various feminist ideologies. They explore historical figures who embodied contradictions within feminism, from slave-owning activists to modern transphobic demagogues. Lewis questions how we can engage with these problematic legacies while advocating solidarity. The dialogue delves into the tensions surrounding social reproduction, race, and the necessity of critical engagement rather than dismissal within feminist discourse.

Dive into Freud's intriguing theories as they unpack his quantitative argument, exploring the nature of 'Q' and the workings of neurones. Discover how pain perception links to memory emergence and the formation of a minimal 'ego.' The discussion also delves into the mind's ability to satisfy itself through hallucinatory processes. Plus, get a sneak peek at terms Freud introduces for the first time and preview concepts that will emerge in his future works on hysteria and dreams. It’s a captivating exploration of consciousness and desire!

In this engaging discussion, Jamieson Webster, a psychoanalyst and author of "On Breathing: Care in a Time of Catastrophe," navigates the profound themes of breath and vulnerability. She connects breath with psychoanalytic history, examining how breathing practices influence trauma and interdependence. Webster critiques the wellness industry's simplistic views and discusses the emotional toll on healthcare workers during COVID-19. The conversation culminates in reflections on the shared nature of breath, emphasizing its unseen impact on our collective experiences.

Dive into a thought-provoking discussion on the complex nature of hate and aggression. Explore how everyday situations reflect displaced feelings of hate and how societal ideologies channel aggression while disavowing hate. The conversation touches on theologies like 'hating the sin but loving the sinner' and examines the blame game in politics, revealing the cruelty enjoyed across party lines. Gain insights into how hate is used to disqualify and condemn groups, all while maintaining a facade of legitimacy.

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 childhood development: more than just an analogy, these two environments are directly connected, and in fraught ways. Second, there’s the link he draws between early experiences of “deprivation,” counter-transferential enactments in treatment, and the struggles of certain patients to establish a stable, safe sense of selfhood. Third, and most provocatively, is Winnicott’s articulation of how feelings of aggression and even hatred naturally arise not just from a child seeking to assert its independence, but from a caregiver. As Abby, Patrick, and Dan discuss, Winnicott’s idea of the “good enough mother,” far from being an exercise in mother-blaming, is in fact a humbling and compassionate recognition of motherhood as a kind of “impossible profession” (and more). And it reveals an approach to pathology, social conventions, and ideologies of the family that are critically different from Freud’s. Plus: the cruelty of the “cult of mother,” sublimated aggression in grim nursery rhymes, and the joy of stealing noses. Up next, in Part IV: we get granular about the implications of Winnicott’s thinking for confronting real-world expressions of hate and aggression in everyday social interactions, institutional dynamics, and, above all, politics.Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you’ve traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! (646) 450-0847  A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness Twitter: @UnhappinessPod Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Theme song: Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO Provided by Fruits Music

Dive into the complexities of human emotion as the hosts unpack Winnicott’s insights on hate and aggression. They explore the post-war therapeutic landscape and highlight the challenges clinicians face with difficult patients. Instead of opting for drastic measures like lobotomies, Winnicott emphasizes understanding the dynamics of transferential encounters. The discussion navigates the interplay of emotional responses, delving into how rage and grief shape early emotional development.

Dive into the intriguing concept of aggression as explored through D.W. Winnicott's theories. The discussion uncovers how feelings of hate can be pivotal in familial and therapeutic settings. Emotional complexities in parenting, particularly in response to concealed identities, take center stage. Insights into childhood aggression reveal its role in development, seen not just as negative but essential to growth. The podcast encourages a deeper understanding of the interplay between aggression, love, and movement in human relationships.