Lives of the Unconscious. A Podcast on Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

We are back with a new episode! "Behind what is referred to in psychoanalysis as fate neurosis or repetition compulsion often lurks the uncanny magnetism of one's own social class" Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Script to this episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116944972 Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY Literature Recommendations: - Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Harvard University Press. - Morgan, D. (2019). The Unconscious in Social and Political Life. Phoenix Publishing House. - Ryan, J. (2017). Class and Psychoanalysis: Landscapes of Inequality. London: Routledge.

Envy can arise wherever there exists inequality between people: in societies and families, between siblings, genders, and generations. “Envy is the tax which all distinction must pay” (R.W. Emerson). Envy has a bad reputation, at times even considered taboo, and yet still it proves to be ever-present. This episode explores the psychoanalytic understanding of envy and its implications for society and therapeutic processes, such as the phenomenon known as ‘negative therapeutic reaction.' However, envy is not only destructive, but is also a driving force of human development. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

The idea of split personality is fertile ground for stories of great imagination—while regrettably also inspiring and perpetuating numerous misunderstandings that continue to cling to the kind of personality organization that we will take up in this episode. *there is a small cultural variation in the episode. We use the German abbreviation "DIS" for Dissociative Identity Disorder. In English, however, the expression "DID" is common. We think that the episode is still easy to understand and hope you enjoy listening to it. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

In contrast to “black depression,” white depression denotes an often inconspicuous, insidious affliction that can last a lifetime. Its distinguishing quality is a feeling of meaninglessness and emptiness that is nearly impossible to grasp, even if everything in life actually appears to be working out and there is reason to be joyful. As if, despite all efforts, it was simply impossible to truly believe in anything at all, as if all love and enthusiasm were simply a stage play, acted out for others. What this is all about and where such feelings towards life can come from is the subject of this episode. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

“You're free to do anything you want! But this man, of all people—you'll never be happy with him.” Or: “Of course, if you don't have time, you don't have to come to the birthday dinner. But Uncle Henry will be very sad if you don't. He was asking about you.” Or: “Yeah, yeah, I got it, independence is very important. But your own apartment, what's the point? You can live with us, it's much cheaper—and we'll leave you alone.” Sentences like this are likely to be familiar in every family. In some families, however, there is a system to this way of communicating. In this episode, we look at the so-called “family behind the rubber fence.” Generally unremarkable from the outside, while highly prone to conflict on the inside, the force binding these kinds of families together is nearly inescapable. In contrast to the “clan-family,” in which deviation is openly disapproved of and attacked, communications within the pseudo-community convey a subtle message of dependency, an intangible ban on separating and individuating oneself from the family: beyond the family, lies the threat of catastrophe. A violent clash ensues if any family member risks breaking away from the family, sometimes even lead-ing to illness. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

One couple fights over household responsibilities. Another is trapped in a cycle of jealousy and control. Still another strives for total harmony and oneness—only to be tormented by intense anxiety the moment small differences arise. With the help of the famous psychodynamic concept of collusion, this episode deals with the often conflictual relations between couples. We often encounter in romantic relationships the contours of our unconscious longings and fears, factors that are anchored in our personal history and that are decisive in the selection of a partner. Topics include: the relationship dynamics of jealousy, narcissistic relationship dynamics, as well as helper dynamics. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

Addiction is one of the most widespread forms of mental illness. However, it is also burdened with many stigmas, and those suffering from it are often stigmatized. Treating it is considered difficult. But why do people become addicted? Can anyone become an addict? What is the psychological function of addictive behavior? This episode is an introduction to the psychoanalytic understanding of addictive disorders, focusing especially on the unconscious dynamics of shame and guilt. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

“You are what you eat.” We are continuously negotiating our identity through food, setting the boundaries of the self. Inscribed into the symptoms of anorexia is an unconscious conflict of identity, which has something to do with one's own longings and cravings, with a hunger for the other. In psychodynamic therapies, these longings become part of the therapeutic exchange, while also leading to a characteristic dilemma. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

History has certainly never failed to offer reasons and occasions to cause violence of all sorts; making it understandable how Freud arrived at the following verdict towards the end of his life: “Homo homini lupus—man is wolf to man. Who in the face of all his experience of life and of history, will have the courage to dispute this assertion?” One form of violence in particular has played an especially sinister role, at least in recent history and continuing up to the present: the destructive power of narcissistic hatred. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

The diagnosis of “narcissism” appears to have come into vogue, not only in the field of clinical psychology. It is an inescapable diagnosis for just about any critique of contemporary society. But what exactly are we talking about when we talk of narcissism? How do such diagnoses of our times relate to the clinical and psychoanalytical understanding of narcissism? Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

Grief is one of life's inevitable experiences, for we live in a world that is fleeting. Processing loss is one of the most difficult mental processes and yet every human being must face it. Some mourning processes are so severe that they lead to mental illnesses. This episode deals with the various phenomena and nuances of mourning and how therapy can accompany this process. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QH82X6SWVJ9LY

After the previous phases of therapy, in which Alex's symptoms and later his own life story took center stage, the outbreak of the Corona crisis sends the therapeutic work into turmoil. Fears of infection, but also alleged “conspiracy theories” confine the therapeutic space and raise questions. These become, at the same time, the starting point for uncovering the transgenerational entanglements. Alex explores the traumatic history of his family and finds not only a demon, still carrying out his nefarious deeds, but also a key to his origins and identity. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Visit our website for more information: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Donation via Paypal to support the production of further episodes: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=X5F9LSUUUQDWU

Alex, a man in his mid-thirties, comes to therapy with psychosomatic symptoms and anxiety attacks, for which initially there appears to be no explanation. In the first phase of therapy, this often first involves finding words for his own feelings and sorting out the inner chaos. In the meantime, an intensive therapeutic process has begun, over the course of which Alex gradually comes to accept his life story as his own. This guides the therapeutic conversation back to events during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the family's emigration to Germany in the early 1990s. Only gradually does it become clear what far-reaching consequences this upheaval had for Alex—and how this story continues to have an impact on him and his psychological suffering to this day. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Visit our website for more information: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Donation via Paypal to support the production of further episodes: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=X5F9LSUUUQDWU

This case study is about Alex, a man in his mid-thirties, who spent over four years in analysis, most of that time with three sessions a week. Alex came into therapy with psychosomatic symptoms and anxiety attacks for which there appeared to be no explanation. The story of therapy describes the development of mental space in which emotional meaning gradually emerges, thoughts and feelings connect, and inner chaos is organized. This is a delicate process, for an ominous light falls on the family history, even affecting Alex's spirit, darkening his life for many years. The case history that also touches on the traumatic history of Europe and Russia, a history that casts its generational shadow on us to this day. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Visit our website for more information: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=X5F9LSUUUQDWU See also our episode on transgenerational transmission of trauma: https://psy-cast.org/en/episode-21-the-long-shadow-of-trauma-transgenerational-transmission/ All case histories and details named have been published only with the personal consent of those involved and have been modified to render them completely anonymous, so that inference to any real person is not possible; or examples have been invented and are fictional. Possible overlaps with any real persons are therefore coincidental. **Help in mental crises**: If you are in a mental health crisis, look for help in your local area and reach out to professionals. Many countries also have national programs.If you are not well, please decide for yourself if you want to listen to this podcast episode. This episode is about panic attacks, anxiety and transgenerational trauma.

We well be back in March with new episodes! See you soon Your Lives-of-the-Unconscious-Team Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org or our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Join our newsletter: Write a mail with the subject "Newsletter registration" to Lives@psy-cast.org Donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=X5F9LSUUUQDWU

Attachment, love, always goes hand in hand with losses—thus happiness and sadness are also close relatives. In this episode we will hear more about why separation and loss not only mean suffering, but also play an important role for psychological development. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org

Psychoanalysis is often equated with the work of Sigmund Freud. Contemporary modes of thought and therapeutic approaches such as relational psychoanalysis or mentalization-based therapy methods are often less well known, despite being central to current practice. This episode provides an introduction to the concepts of contemporary psychoanalysis. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org

Conspiracy phantasma derive their power from affects, not from arguments. They cannot be understood by differentiating them from some supposedly reasonable normality – for normality may not be so reasonable after all – but only in the reflection of their affective cohesiveness. In fact, they are a social psychological phenomenon of extraordinary proportions: and a case for depth psychology. In this episode we will hear more about the role conspiracy theories can play for the psyche and why they cannot be easily abandoned. Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org

“The school of C.G. Jung has played a controversial role in psychoanalysis. More than almost any other psychological school, it grants a greater role to the symbolic world of the psyche, fairy tales, myths, and legends, but also alchemy or astrology. The significance of this spiritual reality is expressed at life-historical thresholds and in crisis situations, but also in anger over the lousy ending of a television series. Also reflected in the controversy surrounding C.G. Jung is an old conflict between enlightenment and myth.” Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

“A trauma does not disappear through silence; it cannot be silenced out of existence. It remains effective in fantasies, dreams, and experiences, but eludes language and thus understanding. It only becomes more diffuse, more intangible; it becomes a shadow or an undead, casting an invisible spell over the family history... But how do you break a spell?” Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

“It is important to emphasize that in every victim of trauma there is a desire for vitality and healing. Consciously and unconsciously, the injured psyche tries to understand what has happened, to mitigate the destructiveness, and to reintegrate it into one's own identity.” Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

“What remains unresolved in the mind knows no time.” This episode is the first of a three-part series on the psychoanalysis of trauma. In the first part we will hear about attachment and early childhood trauma and the impact it can have on our psychological development. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

We wish you a relaxing summer! See you soon Your Lives-of-the-Unconscious-Team Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org or our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Join our newsletter: Write a mail with the subject "Newsletter registration" to Lives@psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lives_of_the_unconscious

“And how is this supposed to work here?” This is the question that quite a few patients ask at the beginning of psychotherapy. How psychotherapy works—especially psychoanalytic treatment—is, at first glance, more difficult to explain than, say, the effect of a medical procedure. A physicians has instruments, to operate on a broken leg, prescribes exercises or drugs, for example an antibiotic. The patient soon feels better and the therapy has worked. But what is it like in psychotherapy? Psychoanalysts have no book with therapy instructions, no exercises; they don't have any pills in the cupboard or anything else that they can conjure up from some therapeutic toolbox. What, after all, is the “drug” in psychoanalysis? In psychoanalysis the principle is: healing through understanding. But the questions remains: How can understanding cure a disease? In this episode we will explore the answer to this question. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Over the course of a therapeutic session, a depressed patient talks about his work colleagues with whom he is working on a group project for his studies. The patient says: "Yesterday we wanted to meet to discuss our project and everyone brought their work. As we were exchanging ideas, I noticed that everyone else was already much further along with their work than me. I have the feeling that they are all much faster in thinking and have more energy and…,” the patient takes a short break and then says: “Well, but that's just the way it is, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. There is nothing that can done about it..." What is the defense here? And is it really functional? We will hear more about these and other forms of so-called "mature" defense mechanisms in this episode. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

The division head of a company has called an important meeting. All employees are present at the agreed upon time, except for the boss. Only once an employee calls him does he remember the meeting and arrives significantly late. He apologizes cursorily and begins the meeting. In the next few minutes, in front of the assembled team, he criticizes specific employees unusually harshly for their work performance and for their failures until they feel very small and humiliated. What is the function of the boss' defense? And why is it called an early defense mechanism in psychoanalysis? More on this episode. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Everyone has their rituals that they insist upon observing more or less fastidiously and, if interrupted, would react to sensitively. From adhering to a particular daily routine, say, before an important exam or a date to athletes who cross themselves, put on their lucky socks, or perform some other ritual before competing. Among the so-called obsessive-compulsive disorders there is a set of symptoms that those afflicted must follow by virtue of some inner compulsion, even when they do not want to—and which massively interferes with their ability to enjoy and cope with life, whereby there is no sharp distinction between normal and pathological compulsiveness. Contemporary psychodynamic conceptions have worked out various aspects of obsessive-compulsive disorders and the psychological function they fulfil. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

When this term comes into play, all analytical alarm bells start going off: Oedipus Complex. This concept seems to epitomize everything disreputable in all those abysmally-fanciful psychoanalytic concepts, which conflate childhood and sexuality and which give birth to concepts such as castration anxiety, penis envy, incestuous desire. But what exactly is the Oedipus complex about? And is the concept still relevant for psychoanalysis today? Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Children are existentially reliant upon their primary caregivers concerning almost every sphere of life and, most of all, in relation to their need for love. If the caregivers are also those who attack this psychological survival, children face an unanswerable situation that has disastrous consequences for psychological development. According to the psychoanalytic understanding, borderline is a severe structural disorder that often originates in early attachment experiences that were devastating or traumatic. Characteristic symptoms, as is common for instance with so-called “cutting” or “black-and-white thinking”, thus represent organizational attempts—once again stabilizing and maintaining fragile self-states at moments in which inner emptiness and dissolution are felt. In this episode, we will move into the borderlands of the psyche, and try to understand some of the extreme experiential states of emotional experience and experience of the self. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Our youtube-channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivesoftheUnconscious Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Not all depression is the same, nor all forms of anxiety. The very same symptom can have completely different meanings for different people and can require different therapeutic approaches. For classification, the so-called level of structural integration is often used in psychoanalysis. It offers information on the architecture and composition of the structure of the psyche, which can be built more or less sturdy. How are these structures specified? How does one recognize where a symptom is located in these psychic structures? And what does this mean for therapy? Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

We all wear masks from time to time: at work, in front of our friends, sometimes even—or perhaps especially—within our family and in front of our partners. But there are people who find it difficult to ever take off this mask, who may not even know what their face would look like underneath. This episode deals with such questions of identity and the influential concept of the false self. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychological problems for which people seek out psychotherapy. At the same time, anxiety is a feeling that everyone knows and everyone has suffered from—some more, some less. But at what point does anxiety become an illness? This episode explores the question of how anxiety arises and how anxiety disorders can be understood from a psychoanalytic perspective. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

The world is a stage—the couch too? So many scenes, sometimes even true dramas, play out in our minds. In everyday life we slip into the most diverse roles; the two protagonists we call patient and therapist are no exception. This episode deals with how, within the therapeutic setting, our unconscious sets the stage for these roles and how psychoanalysts understand these situations. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Is there evidence for the effectiveness of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic-based therapy methods? For which forms of illness is it suitable? In this episode we present significant findings from research on psychoanalytic psychotherapy and address the question of whether the effectiveness of psychoanalysis is scientifically proven. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Psychoanalysis is an exotic resident in the house of science. A wide variety of disciplines have borrowed from it, from neuroscience to the social sciences, to art and literature. At the same time, it has often been confronted with the accusation of being unscientific. We will dedicate two episodes of our podcast to just this question. In the first episode, we look at the scientific status of psychoanalysis. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Everyone has probably wondered to themselves: "Why did I just do that?" or even, "Why did my partner actually behave like that?" The ability to relate and interpret one's own actions and behavior, and that of another person, to mental states is called the ability to mentalize. In some people it is well developed, while in others it is rather fragile, as is often the case, for example, with so-called "borderline personality disorders". This episode deals with how we develop the ability to mentalize and what the consequences are when we fail to mentalize. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

What constitutes our inner mental life is in large part based on our early relationship experiences. This principle of psychoanalytic thinking becomes particularly clear in the concept of attachment. Attachment describes the existential experience of emotional resonance and reassurance in relationships—or its fateful absence. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

"Should I really do it—or should I rather not?" In many situations, we are at odds with ourselves, want to have our cake and eat it too, or are two minds—or even more?—about something. Conflicts determine our coexistence with other people, but also our inner mental life. The subject of this episode is: why conflicts are the key to understanding psychological suffering, but also to psychological development. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

"That's something that I've done? I don't to remember that at all!" The word repression has made a career for itself: even in our everyday language we speak of repressed feelings and memories. But what is it really all about? Is it true that one can really completely repress basic experiences? What role does repression play in our mental life and in therapy? This episode digs into the dark chambers of the psyche. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

They are among the central terms of psychoanalysis: transference and countertransference. While at the same time, they describe something that every person experiences in daily life; for transference always takes place when we enter into relationships with others. In this episode you will learn what is meant by this. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives

Outdated and dusty? No other psychotherapeutic practice generates as many rumors as psychoanalysis. Generally, psychoanalysis is equated with a red couch and the works of Sigmund Freud. But what is it really all about? And what distinguishes contemporary psychoanalysis? The first episode introduces the basic features of psychoanalytic therapy and explains what is characteristic of psychoanalysis today. Visit our website: www.psy-cast.org Support us on Patreon and get the scripts to the episodes: www.patreon.com/lives