Red Medicine

Lily Scherlis joins the podcast to talk about her recent essay Experiences in Groups, which was published in the most recent issue of n+1 magazine and documents her experience of attending a Group Relations conference in the English countryside. Group relations refers to an offshoot of psychoanalytic theory and practice which applies the ideas of Wilfred Bion, to understand group dynamics and organizational structures.  Lily is a a writer, artist, and PhD candidate living in Brooklyn. Her writing has appeared in publications such as n+1, Harper's, The Guardian, Parapraxis, The Baffler, The Drift, and many other publications. Her work often addresses ideas from psychoanalysis, pop-psychology, and the history of social science.  Lily's essay, Experiences in Groups can be read here: https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/essays/experiences-in-groups/ SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Candela Potente and Ramsey McGlazer join to discuss the life and work of Marie Langer; a psychoanalyst who grew up in Red Vienna and fled fascism after fighting in the Spanish Civil War. After fleeing to Argentina she co-founded the Argentine Psychoanalytic Association, before being forced to leave the country under the threat of anti-communist death squads. She then found herself in Mexico, supporting the Nicaraguan Revolution by helping to build their mental health infrastructure. This conversation looks at what her legacy offers us in a time of rising fascism and institutional complicity. SUPPORT AND WRITE IN: http://linktr.ee/redmedicine.xyzRamsey McGlazer lives in Oakland, California, and teaches at UC Berkeley. His first book, Old Schools, was published in 2020, and he is working on a book currently called "The Clinic and its Double," about aesthetics and radical psychiatry in Italy and Brazil. His public writing has appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Lux Magazine, n+1, and Parapraxis, among other places. He lived in Argentina a lifetime ago and has more recently translated several books from the Spanish by Argentine writers. These include, most recently, Rita Segato's The War Against Women (published by Polity in 2025). Candela Potente is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Hans Kilian and Lotte Köhler Center at Ruhr-University Bochum and the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin. She works on the epistemology of psychoanalysis, taking case studies from its transnational history, and her research has been published in the journals Penumbra, Problemi International, and TRANSIT. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and a degree in Philosophy from the University of Buenos Aires. SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Hannah Proctor, author of Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat, returns to the podcast to talk through questions and comments submitted by listeners for the first episode of the Anti-Self-Helpline. The Anti-Self-Helpline is a new episode format where listeners write in with their experiences of political struggle so we can take seriously the psychic and emotional content of political experiences.-Hannah Proctor is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, interested in histories and theories of radical psychiatry. She is a member of the editorial collective behind Radical Philosophy, and has been published in Jacobin, Tribune, The New Inquiry and elsewhere.Hannah Proctor is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, interested in histories and theories of radical psychiatry. She is a member of the editorial collective behind Radical Philosophy, and has been published in Jacobin, Tribune, The New Inquiry and elsewhere. Her first book Burnout published with Verso Books in 2024. -SUBMIT TO THE HELPLINE VIA ANY OF THE PODCAST SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS OR ANONYMOUSLY BY USING THIS DOCUMENT: https://linktr.ee/redmedicine.xyz SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Micha Frazer-Carroll and Sasha Warren are back on the podcast to discuss the Dialectics of Liberation Congress: a conference that brought together the likes of R. D. Laing, David Cooper, Kwame Ture (FKA Stokely Carmichael), Herbert Marcuse, Allen Ginsburg, CLR James, Angela Davis, Carolee Schneemann, and many more in London, 1967. The congress attempted to theorize and resist violence in all its forms, we discuss what took place at this weird and intense event and what we can learn from it today.  Sasha Durakov Warren is a writer based in Minneapolis. He cofounded the group Hearing Voices Twin Cities and is the author of the fantastic book Storming Bedlam: Madness, Utopia, and Revolt which published last year with Common Notions. He runs the substack Of Unsound Mind.  Micha Frazer-Carroll is an author, journalist and editor living in London.  She was previously an editor at the magazine gal-dem and has written for publications including the Guardian, Vogue, Huck, and DAZED magazine. Micha is also the author of Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health which was published in 2023 by Pluto Press.  All samples in this episode come from the film Dialectics Of Liberation - Anatomy Of Violence (Villon films). Submit to the ANTI-SELF-HELPLINE here: https://linktr.ee/redmedicine.xyz  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Emily Lim Rogers and Rouzbeh Shadpey join the podcast to talk about the history of chronic fatigue under capitalism. We explore the way in which medical knowledge reflects and enacts the need for capitalist society to monitor, measure and discipline workers before situating conditions like ME/CFS within these dynamics.   Emily Lim Rogers is an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, with secondary appointments in Asian American and Diaspora Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. She has a book forthcoming with Duke University Press called Sick Work: Exhaustion, Labor, and Invisible Illness Rouzbeh Shadpey is an artist, writer, and musician. Rouzbeh has exhibited and performed at TULCA (Ireland), documenta fifteen (Germany), The Mosaic Rooms (UK), Poetry Project (New York), MUTEK (Montréal), and more. His writing appears in artistic and academic journals, including Parapraxis, Decolonial Hacker, Weird Economies, Syllabus Project, and Momus. His musical practice, under the name GOLPESAR / گلپسر , combines avant-garde electronics, guitar, spoken word, and Iranian sonics. ANTI-SELF-HELPLINE SUBMISSIONS: https://forms.gle/8npHMJmsSXjEdc8s5 JULY 10th panel information: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/28215/thinking-together-for-consolation-and-towards-liberation   SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

The ANTI-SELF-HELPLINE is a place to share and make sense of our experiences of political struggle. Political struggle is hard; yet there are very few resources for thinking through the emotional and psychic dimensions of these experiences. Those of us who want to radically change the world are often exposed to the depoliticizing tendencies of mainstream therapy, the disciplining functions of self-help, and the pathologisation of political consciousness. The ANTI-SELF-HELPLINE is a space to think through these experiences collectively whilst engaging critically with psychoanalysis, therapy, and histories of struggle. Send your questions, reflections, and experiences to editorial@redmedicine.xyzOr submit here: https://forms.gle/2RzafrqoqLLEav7X6You can also send messages or voice-notes to any of the podcast social media accounts.  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Hannah Zeavin, an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley and cofounder of The Psychosocial Foundation, teams up with Helen Charman, a Cambridge Fellow and accomplished writer. They delve into the intersection of motherhood, media, and technology throughout the 20th century. Their conversation reveals how media shapes societal expectations of mothers and explores the anxieties tied to modern parenting. They also critique historical narratives and the influence of iconic TV shows, highlighting the evolving dynamics of maternal roles and the impact of technological advancements.

Jess Thorne returns to the podcast to discuss workers' self-management – from the Lucas Plan of the 1970s to Yugoslavian workers' councils. She explains how workers have challenged the idea that innovation only happens thanks to top-down management structures and asks what worker autonomy offers in the face of current political problems.Jess Thorne is a trade union organiser who has spent the last two years assisting health care assistants with a rebanding campaign. She is also a labour historian and has contributed to journals such as European History Quarterly, Labour History Review and History Workshop Journal.Tickets for Festival of the Oppressed 2025: https://revsoc21.uk/festival2025/Jess' report on workers' self management: https://autonomy.work/portfolio/worker-led-innovation/  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Abby Kluchin and Patrick Blanchfield dive into the impactful work of D. W. Winnicott, a cornerstone of British psychoanalysis. They explore how WWII influenced his theories and the evolution of maternal roles in psychoanalysis. The conversation highlights how negative emotions can foster creativity, contrasting Winnicott's views with traditional psychoanalytic perspectives. They also discuss the complexities of caregiving and its societal undervaluation, all while shedding light on the emotional dynamics between parents and children and how these insights are relevant today.

Erik Baker, a Harvard lecturer and Senior Editor of The Drift, joins to unravel the intricate relationship between entrepreneurialism and pop psychology. He discusses the historical roots of the entrepreneurial spirit, tracing its evolution from spiritualism to modern self-help. Topics like the link between anti-psychiatry movements and entrepreneurship, as well as how crises drive innovative thinking, are explored. Baker emphasizes the need for collaborative solutions in today’s economic landscape, highlighting the shift from individual success to collective welfare.