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counterfactual.bsky.social
abby
@counterfactual.bsky.social
co-host of the Ordinary Unhappiness podcast, co-founder of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
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🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 We're joined by brilliant therapist and sex educator Lucie Fielding (@sexbeyondbinaries.bsky.social)! We talk the new edition of her book Trans Sex, tackle Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, polymorphous perversity, pleasure, and more!
www.buzzsprout.com/2131830/epis...
123: Polymorphous Perversity and Gender Pleasure feat. Lucie Fielding - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick are joined by therapist and sexuality educator Lucie Fielding. First, the three talk about Lucie’s path to clinical work and the significance of her book, Trans Sex, just out in a rev...
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November 29, 2025 at 4:39 PM
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if you need to get some kind of psychic handle on your upcoming Thanksgiving experience, or at least want material to wield as either shield or weapon against your family, @unhappinesspod.bsky.social is here for you
November 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
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In part two, we move from family rituals and traumas to social traumas and historical crimes; the history of the holiday and behind the holiday; and the fantasies, brutalities, and anxieties of settler colonialism itself. www.buzzsprout.com/2131830/epis...
UNLOCKED: 32: Thanksgiving Special, Part 2: Murder, Myth, and Memory - Ordinary Unhappiness
Last year we unlocked part 1 of our Thanksgiving Special so that everyone could hear the good/bad news about the "Holiday Syndrome." This year we're unlocking part 2, on settler colonialism, history, ...
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November 25, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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In part one, we tackle the so-called "Holiday Syndrome," the Thanksgiving family scene in all its yearnings and pain, what it means to regress, why so many holiday dishes resemble baby food, and more.
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UNLOCKED: 31: Thanksgiving Special, Part 1: The Holiday Syndrome - Ordinary Unhappiness
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 Thanksgiving Spec...
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November 25, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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🚨UNLOCKED🚨 Upcoming holidays filling you with dread? Need something to listen to while traveling, or while staying home? We've got you covered: BOTH parts of our classic Thanksgiving Special are now unlocked!
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UNLOCKED: 32: Thanksgiving Special, Part 2: Murder, Myth, and Memory - Ordinary Unhappiness
Last year we unlocked part 1 of our Thanksgiving Special so that everyone could hear the good/bad news about the "Holiday Syndrome." This year we're unlocking part 2, on settler colonialism, history, ...
www.buzzsprout.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:46 PM
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Browsing the back catalog of Ordinary Unhappiness, I found this goddamn delight, a conversation with @samadlerbell.bsky.social on Janet Malcolm: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o.... Thank you! @counterfactual.bsky.social & @patblanchfield.bsky.social
13: The Journalist and the Analyst: On Janet Malcolm feat. Sam Adler-Bell
Podcast Episode · Ordinary Unhappiness · 06/24/2023 · 1h 49m
podcasts.apple.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:07 AM
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we're continuing my favorite of Freud's Case Studies over at
@unhappinesspod.bsky.social. it's been a delightful time - check it out!
November 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
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🚨NEW STANDARD EDITION🚨 We continue the case of Elisabeth von R, talking family dynamics, short-circuits of care, parentification, tragic losses, gendered social roles, and more. Plus: what does it mean for a psychic "blow to fall"?

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122: Standard Edition Volume 2 Part 8: Studies on Hysteria, Part VIII: The Blow That Falls: Fräulein Elisabeth von R Continued Teaser - Ordinary Unhappiness
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick resume Freud’s case history of Elisabeth von R. The...
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November 22, 2025 at 4:34 PM
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🚨UNLOCKED🚨 We spoke with the great
@sarahlovescali.bsky.social about climate grief, her experience of ayahuasca therapy in the Peruvian Amazon, our expectations for psychedelics, our fantasies of transformative experiences, and what we can learn from plants!
UNLOCKED: 103: Ayahuasca and Climate Grief feat. Sarah Miller - Ordinary Unhappiness
Unlocked Patreon episode. Support Ordinary Unhappiness on Patreon to get access to all the exclusive episodes. patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick are joined by one of their favorite write...
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November 16, 2025 at 3:20 PM
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we could've spent another two hours on this - easy. karlin was so brilliant and generous, and we went in so many directions. @counterfactual.bsky.social and I have been talking about this @unhappinesspod.bsky.social conversation nonstop since bsky.app/profile/unha...
November 8, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 How do perception and language shape subjectivity? What makes an experience ineffable? And can LSD offer new prospects for treating MDD and GAD? We're joined by @dankarlin.com of MindMed to talk new research trials, neurobiology, and more! www.buzzsprout.com/2131830/epis...
121: LSD: Subjectivity, Ineffability, and Mental Health feat. Dan Karlin - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick continue their series on psychedelics via an in-depth interview with Dr. Dan Karlin. Karlin is a psychiatrist and Chief Medical Officer at MindMed, where he oversees clinical trials u...
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November 8, 2025 at 3:04 PM
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🚨NEW WILD ANALYSIS🚨 Abby (@counterfactual.bsky.social) and Dan watch "The Substance "(2024). From sexual difference to gendered expectations, from the male gaze to femininity as self-surveillance, it's a psychoanalytic body horror Halloween spectacular! www.buzzsprout.com/2131830/epis...
120: Wild Analysis: The Substance Teaser - Ordinary Unhappiness
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Dan process Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (2024), starrin...
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November 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
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🚨NEW EPISODE🚨What are the fantasies, anxieties, and institutional realities of education? How does knowledge relate to authority - and to lack? And why is the figure of Jacques Lacan so seductive? We're joined by Nick Stock (@89stock.bsky.social) and Nick Peim, authors of The Lacanian Teacher!
119: Lacan, Knowledge, Fantasy feat. Nick Stock and Nick Peim - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick are joined by Nick Stock and Nick Peim, authors of the new book The Lacanian Teacher: Education, Pedagogy, and Enjoyment. From the origin stories teachers tell about themselves to the...
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October 25, 2025 at 3:50 PM
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people keep asking for more Lacan, and so it was a double (triple?) pleasure to be able to deliver via this excellent
@unhappinesspod.bsky.social conversation with the great Nick Peim and Nick Stock (@89stock.bsky.social). as Lacan commanded: Enjoy!
🚨NEW EPISODE🚨What are the fantasies, anxieties, and institutional realities of education? How does knowledge relate to authority - and to lack? And why is the figure of Jacques Lacan so seductive? We're joined by Nick Stock (@89stock.bsky.social) and Nick Peim, authors of The Lacanian Teacher!
119: Lacan, Knowledge, Fantasy feat. Nick Stock and Nick Peim - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick are joined by Nick Stock and Nick Peim, authors of the new book The Lacanian Teacher: Education, Pedagogy, and Enjoyment. From the origin stories teachers tell about themselves to the...
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October 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
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🚨NEW STANDARD EDITION🚨 We begin "Fräulein Elisabeth von R," Freud's most accessible case study. It's a tale of a woman burdened by her family system, social roles, and bodily pain, and whose suffering finds poignant symbolic expression in her symptoms.
118: Standard Edition Volume 2 Part 7: Studies on Hysteria, Part VII: Fräulein Elisabeth von R Teaser - Ordinary Unhappiness
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick arrive at the final case study in Freud and Breuer'...
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October 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
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This episode is from earlier this year - but it feels only more salient now. And if you want more @unhappinesspod.bsky.social content, including tons of exclusive episodes, please consider subscribing to us on Patreon! It's how we stay always and forever ad-free! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnha...
Ordinary Unhappiness | Patreon
a podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and more
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October 11, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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🚨UNLOCKED🚨 We unpack Julia Kristeva's concept of "abjection" and "the abject." It's a powerful idea that clarifies real bodily experiences, raw affects, and urgent political concerns involving violence, vulnerability, scapegoating, and disgust. www.buzzsprout.com/2131830/epis...
UNLOCKED: 107: On Abjection - Ordinary Unhappiness
Unlocked Patreon episode. Support Ordinary Unhappiness on Patreon to get access to all the exclusive episodes. patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Patrick, and Dan discuss and apply Julia Kristeva’s ...
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October 11, 2025 at 3:33 PM
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mostly I think people should subscribe to @unhappinesspod.bsky.social which is ad free for all forever, anti AI to the end, and even has done some cronenberg content! I do love Bella tho
October 9, 2025 at 2:39 PM
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🚨 NEW EPISODE🚨 The incomparable @lilyscherlis.bsky.social joins @counterfactual.bsky.social and Dan to discuss her experience at the 2024 Tavistock conference, the meaning of “group relations" in general and for leftists in particular, the legacies of WR Bion, and much more!
117: Experiences in Groups feat. Lily Scherlis Teaser - Ordinary Unhappiness
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Dan sit down with writer and performance artist Lily Scherl...
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October 4, 2025 at 11:54 AM
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🚨NEW BONUS EPISODE🚨 Our own @patblanchfield.bsky.social joins the great Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell of the Know Your Enemy podcast to talk Charlie Kirk, martyrdom, mourning, memory, and the psychic and political landscape of our moment.
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Bonus Episode: Martyrdom, Mourning, and the Legacy of Charlie Kirk - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick share Patrick’s appearance on the Know Your Enemy podcast, hosted by friends of Ordinary Unhappiness Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell. Patrick, Matt, and Sam process last weekend’s t...
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September 30, 2025 at 5:12 PM
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Fashion isn’t fluff but a psychic and political engine. This conversation tracks how Freud fretted over his barber and tailor, while Lacan’s gaze and Anzieu’s skin‑ego live in clothes as armor and second skin.

With Valerie Steele on @unhappinesspod.bsky.social
114: Fashion and Psychoanalysis feat. Valerie Steele - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick welcome Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, to discuss her new book, Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and…
buff.ly
September 29, 2025 at 1:03 PM
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🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 We're joined by writer Michael Clune, author of the new novel, Pan! It's a tour de force tale of growing up, friendship, coolness, drugs, unfolding on the boundaries between the normal upheavals of adolescence and acute pathology.
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116: Writing Panic feat. Michael Clune - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick welcome writer and academic Michael Clune to discuss his new novel, Pan. It is the story of Nick, a teenage boy living alone with his divorced father in the 1990s Midwest. Precocious ...
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September 27, 2025 at 12:03 PM
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🚨NEW STANDARD EDITION🚨 Freud goes on an alpine holiday - but altitude is no barrier to psychic distress. Joins us for the story of Katharina, the shortest, strangest, and saddest of the Studies on Hysteria. www.buzzsprout.com/2131830/epis...
115: Standard Edition Volume 2 Part 6: Studies on Hysteria, Part VI: Katharina Teaser - Ordinary Unhappiness
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby and Patrick read the shortest, strangest, and arguably saddest entry in the Studies on Hysteria – the case of ...
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September 20, 2025 at 3:17 PM
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🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 From protective armor to revealing display, from the mirror stage to the skin ego, and from runways to our dreams, in what ways do we all use clothes, like it or not, to literally fashion ourselves?
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114: Fashion and Psychoanalysis feat. Valerie Steele - Ordinary Unhappiness
Abby and Patrick welcome Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, to discuss her new book, Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Ps...
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September 13, 2025 at 1:50 PM
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we're at the fashion show
we're at the psychoanalysis show
we're at the joint fashion and psychoanalysis show
this amazing exhibit at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology opens tomorrow; our interview with MFIT Director and Chief Curator Valerie Steele drops this Saturday!
September 9, 2025 at 6:57 PM