Ordinary Unhappiness

I love this podcast! I send episodes to my friends and we enjoy discussing them! But the hosts' speaking styles are DIFFICULT. Abby talks too slowly, and I assume she thinks it makes her easier to understand, but I forget the beginning of each sentence by the time she gets to the end. Patrick talks at a normal rate (and I know Abby coached him to slow down from what used to be too fast), but he still hedges with 15 different clauses between the subject and the verb, so that I have to rewind every other utterance. I'm an academic and I understand being cautious with your claims, but the best episodes are the wild analysis bonus ones where they riff more comfortably and less self-consciously. They do have good cohost chemistry, as does Dan when he's on, but if they could all talk more like him, this would be an easier listen.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It’s honestly absurd that Ordinary Unhappiness is sitting at a 4.6 rating. This podcast is consistently thoughtful, deeply conversational, and genuinely thought-inspiring in a way that so many shows aim for but rarely achieve. Each episode feels less like content and more like an invitation to think—about psychology, culture, suffering, and meaning—without rushing toward easy answers. The hosts create space for curiosity, nuance, and reflection, and the conversations unfold with an intelligence and care that’s increasingly rare in the podcast world. I regularly finish episodes feeling both challenged and strangely comforted, like I’ve been part of a meaningful dialogue rather than a lecture. This is quickly becoming one of my new favorite podcasts, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. If you’re looking for a show that respects your intelligence and actually leaves you thinking long after it ends, Ordinary Unhappiness more than delivers.

I found you guys via Know Your Enemy and have been enjoying having you in my ears during my Saturday morning shifts. I was in grad school for Romance Languages in the late 2000s and while psychoanalysis did come up occasionally, but as presented it felt more like an intellectual plaything than something to engage with in a serious and sustained way. So I appreciate and benefit from your dedication to the field and your project of exploring it in a public facing forum. I have especially enjoyed your conversations with authors… I immediately purchased Brian Goldstone’s book before I had even finished your episode with him. The holiday syndrome episodes are another favorite. Thanks for what you do!

Great content on left politics and psychoanalysis, which provides entry points for people well-versed in this field and those with new interest. Episodes with guests tend to be the strongest, if only because they are more likely to minimize randy and/or twee and/or self-indulgent digressions by the main hosts. I got annoyed enough that I stopped listening for a while. But the majority of the content is so smart that I’ve just dealt with the annoying tangents by fast forwarding through them 2-3 times per show. So: highly recommended if you’re prepared to do that (or just more a patient person than me).

The male host’s voice is way too low in volume, whereas everyone else’s voice is way too high in volume. I find myself constantly pressing the volume up or down depending on who is talking. He also tends to mumble stuff really fast, rendering whatever he’s saying unintelligible, unless I slow down the speed and turn the volume up way high. And then I pause, to turn the volume back down, before the next person responds, so that I don’t blow my ears out. Some basic post-recording equalization would be a huge improvement. Not sure how they’ve gone months into this without getting the sound quality ironed out. I initially had very high hopes for this podcast, and had a paid subscription on patreon since its inception. I absolutely loved the episode on the uncanny. However, I come away from most episodes feeling like I’ve retained very little about whatever bits of psychoanalytic theory were touched upon. There is too much tangential trivia, too many episodes centered around pop culture, and of course now entire episodes focused on academically fashionable genderqueer stuff… and too frequently getting lost in the weeds of historical trivia (as a lay person, I just do not have the time or desire to learn about Freud’s many correspondences and the trace influences of various lesser known thinkers on his ideas). I thought this podcast was going to provide a core education of psychoanalytic concepts - especially the basic canonical ideas of major figures. But we’re already four? episodes into the Standard Edition and still stuck in preliminary scene-setting. I’m tapping out.

I was so excited when this podcast began, and loved the idea of being led through foundational and contemporary psychoanalytic concepts in relation to contemporary life and politics,but it veered off track to the point where I find most episodes unlistenable. The hosts are smart and committed but the podcast often relies on chats with a single generation of scholars who are a part of their inner circle,. (and generally too narrowly attached to lacan!)