Psychoanalysis and Addiction

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ), discusses concepts of apres coup and repetition compulsion as they related to psychoanalysis and addiction, contrasting this with transformative experiences of affective overwhelm, as presented in the writing of Avgi Saketopoulou.

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ) discusses problems in addiction treatment when providers attempt to reconcile the needs of addicted individuals and their impacted significant others, and inadvertently reinforce the escapism that lies at the heart of addiction

Graeme Daniels, psychoanalyst and author ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ), discusses addiction and pleasure-seeking as it relates to the following: the ethics of affirmative versus limit consent in the context of the drive to overwhelm, based on the paper "The Draw to Overwhelm" by Avgi Saketopoulou. 

In this episode, Graeme Daniels, psychoanalyst and author ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ) discusses the practice of free consultations in the context of Freud's recommendations for treatment, as well as the specter of mandated treatment scenarios, which run counter to psychoanalytic principles

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ), once again critiques/pokes fun at the addiction treatment field: its Hollywood style populist guilt-trippy interventions, tendentious pronouncements; its conflating of empathy and guilt. 

Author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ), explores how psychoanalysis adapts itself to the framework of couples therapy despite its reputation as a theoretical model that is fundamentally unsuited to the treatment of couples according to some in pop psychology quarters. 

In this episode, psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ), talks about a 1990 paper by analyst Emmanuel Ghent about surrender, submission, and masochism, and relates its themes to the theories of Freud, Klein, and Winnicott, plus surrealistic devices in cinema, and humor.  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great liter...

Graeme Daniels, psychoanalyst and author ( Getting Real About Sex Addiction , An Analyst in Training ), discusses the problem of double bind communication, especially within short-term iterations of addiction treatment: the privileging of guilt-inducement interventions over attention to underlying fears, feelings of shame.  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is...

Psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction , describes the history of the disease concept of addiction, originally aimed singularly at alcoholism, and remarks on its positive and negative consequences: namely, its potential to obscure exploration of in-depth and relational meanings within addictive phenomena Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding g...

Graeme Daniels, author of An Analyst in Training , welcomes fellow psychotherapist Mark Lederer as a guest to discuss the emerging role of AI in the practice of psychotherapy. Graeme and Mark discuss psychoanalytic theory, the philosophical implications of using AI in psychotherapy given how it appears to function currently. The discussion poses questions like, would an AI companion call out react...

Author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels continues his reading of his 2019 book, The Psychology of Tommy , about the famous rock opera. This reading covers the mid-section and finale of the piece, explicating Tommy's schizoid and narcissistic rise and fall, his failed efforts at messianism with a drug-addled following, and his dejected yet accepting defeat.  Leadership Lessons From The Great B...

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels continues his reading of passages from his 2019 book, The Psychology of Tommy . In this installment, passages reflect upon the pivotal trauma within the opera's plot, then the adaptive (and not) unfolding of Tommy's affliction via psychosomatic or conversion symptoms, as well as the plainer expression of play. Also, click here to read a review of G...

In this 3rd episode about Tommy the rock opera, author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels reads from his book, The Psychology of Tommy , covering passages that describe the pivotal plot point of the opera's opening act, which relates themes of insecure narratives, implicit (or unconscious) memory, and the trauma of silenced witnessing As a bonus, check out this review of Graeme's book from...

In this episode, author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels reads from his 2019 book, The Psychology of Tommy , about the famous 1969 rock opera, providing a social surround of its era, including the backdrop of post-WWII Britain, plus of an overview of relevant attachment theory that have informed interpretations of Tommy .  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is b...

In this episode, Graeme Daniels, author and psychoanalyst, marks the 10th anniversary of the publication of an academic paper about the rock opera Tommy, by reading the first chapter from his book The Psychology of Tommy , published in 2019.  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is better than trying to read and understand (yet)... Listen on: Apple Podcasts  ...

Author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels ( An Analyst in Training: Psychoanalytic Candidacy Amid Covid and Other Distractions ), goes beyond the basics in this rumination upon the concept of informed consent: a legal and ethical premise which decrees that the patient has the right to know what the treatment is such that they can consent to it. But what actually can be shared? Leadership Lessons Fro...

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels discusses his latest book, An Analyst in Training: Psychoanalytic Candidacy Amid Covid and Other Distractions , comparing its themes to those embedded in cherished novels from the 20th century: Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , and Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature i...

In this episode, author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels reflects on his recent trip to Europe, in which he traveled safely yet not without disruption, and parlays observations into a discussion of Freudian and Lacanian ideas: those of repetition compulsion, "fort-da", the surprise of the "real", and the jouissance within symptoms.  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Under...

Author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels welcomes guest Eric Miller to talk about psychoanalytic training amid the Covid crisis, controversies relating to DEI, and the dawning of the AI revolution, as written about in Graeme's latest book, An Analyst in Training , published by Bloomsbury.  Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is better than trying to read and...

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels reflects on his appearance at this year's American Psychoanalytic Association (Apsa) national meeting in San Francisco: his receiving the 2026 Lee Jaffe award for his paper, "Treatment of a recovering alcoholic with substitute addictions", and his presentation of that paper alongside discussant Dr. Lance Dodes Leadership Lessons From The Great...

Author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels talks in this episode about program accreditation, training and educational standards in the field of professional psychology, the publishing of ideas--the fraught, much-marketed idea of "expertise"--and gives consumer tips on what to look for seeking mental health treatment Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is...

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels profiles a 2019 analytic paper by Graeme Taylor entitled "Creativity and Perversion: waiting for the muse", about a man beset with addictive paraphilia and a thwarting of creative impulse. Daniels observes how such an insight-oriented, in-depth treatment such as this would struggle to co-exist alongside the zeitgeist of infidelity treatment models...

In this episode, Graeme Daniels, author and psychoanalyst, discusses Covid and DEI impacts on psychoanalytic training, reading passages from his book, An Analyst in Training , published this year by Bloomsbury. Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is better than trying to read and understand (yet)... Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In this episode, author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels discusses issues relating to confidentiality, diagnosis, assessment of attachment and personality deficits in the context of addiction or infidelity treatment, plus how so-called team approaches can mismanage confidentiality boundaries to confound treatment goals Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is bette...

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels continues his rumination on adolescence. In this episode, he reads passages from his book, An Analyst in Training , published this year by Bloomsbury, and from the novel, Catcher in the Rye , whose protagonist, Holden Caulfield, features as part of a motif in Graeme's non-fiction. Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Understanding great literature is...