Explore every episode of the podcast Psychoanalysis and Addiction

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. 

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. 

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

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 reaction formations?

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. 

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 Graeme's book by Kirkus magazine

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 Kirkus Reviews. 

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. 

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. 

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?

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

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

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 that privilege guilt-leveraging interventions

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.

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

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.

In this episode, Graeme Daniels, author and psychoanalyst, ruminates on working with adolescents, being an adolescent, and just plain thinking about adolescence through the prisms of art and psychoanalysis: conjuring rock and roll, D.W. Winnicott, Shakespeare, surfing on an open sea, or else being disrupted by the sounds of grinding lead. 

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme discusses 3 types of guilt: conscious guilt, as it is commonly invoked in conventional social circles as well as standard addiction treatment models; unconscious guilt, based on Freudian theory, and defensive use of guilt against underlying feelings of shame.

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels welcomes two guests, colleagues Joe Farley and Lara Weyland, to discuss psychoanalytic training both before and after the Covid crisis: each discusses personal decisions, the pathways from early training experiences to the discovery of what draws therapists into in-depth psychoanalysis

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels invokes 1984, Jean Lamarck, Marshall McLuhan, D.W. Winnicott, among others, in this rumination upon the technological enhancement of/intrusion upon domestic life. Comments congeal upon a review of the book, Mother Media: hot and cold parenting in the 20th century, by Hannah Zeavin.

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels reads from and comment upon his award-winning paper, "Treatment of a Recovering Alcoholic with Substitute Addictions"

Graeme Daniels, psychoanalyst and author, discusses his paper entitled "Treatment of a Recovering Alcoholic with Substitute Addictions", which won the 2025 Lee Jaffe prize as awarded by the American Psychoanalytic Association

Author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels talks about psychoanalytic training amid the covid and post covid era, referencing elements of his own book, An Analyst in Training: Psychoanalytic Candidacy Amid Covid and Other Distractions, as well as an article on treatment termination by analyst Joyce Slowchower

Graeme Daniels, author and psychoanalyst, takes the concept of guilt from the courtroom to its analogous space in psychoanalysis, contrasting a religious/redemptive model with case illustrations of Oedipal guilt, in the context of "problem" sexual behavior

In this episode, author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels further discusses the aftermath of the trial of AB1775 at the California Superior Court in August, including its anti-climactic judgement. Commentary explores the curious presence of guilt--of a subject of treatment, that of its providers, of an adjudicating state--amidst this battle over privacy rights.

Get comfortable, because soon you won't be. Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels, fresh from his front seat at the trial of child abuse reporting law AB1775, reports and comments upon the testimonies given, the cross examinations leveled, and the judgements made in the August 2025 trial that had been on hold for 6 six years, based upon a law about viewing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that is now 10 years old. And the ending is shocking. 

Graeme Daniels, psychoanalyst and author, presents the first of a two-part commentary about psychotherapy and privacy, pitting the needs of significant others, family, the community--even the state--against the needs for individuals to seek psychotherapeutic treatment with optimal confidentiality. The contexts are sexual infidelity and child abuse reporting law.

In this episode, psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels chats with Dr. Davide, " the empathy coach" about infidelity and sex addiction treatment, exploring the "2 Es model of emphasis and empathy", and challenging the premises of the "right to know" ethos of many providers in this field

Author and psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels introduces his book, An Analyst in Training, published by Bloomsbury, in conversation with Portuguese psychologist Pedro Job. The compare training experiences in Portugal versus the United States, and discuss what motivates mid-career professionals to become psychoanalysts

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels discusses Freud's concepts of infantile sexuality, slips, group psychology, plus latter-day analytic theories of a social unconscious within the context of today's quickly moving, disposable, and replaceable headlines

Psychoanalyst and author Graeme Daniels speaks about the writings of Avgi Saketopoulou, commenting on her concepts of psychic overwhelm, transgressive play, affirmative and limit consent, in the context of sadomasochistic rituals, with an eye towards how such phenomena emerge in psychoanalytic treatment

In this episode, psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels talks about masochism, surrender and submission, weaving in theories of Freud, Klein, and Winnicott with reflections upon addiction, BDSM, repetition compulsion, even rape--all relating to a paper by Emmanuel Ghent from the nineties, plus the fifty year anniversary of a famous shark film

Psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels begins his newly re-configured podcast series with a review of a paper by Israeli psychiatrist/analyst Amit Saad: a paper about time arrows, the timelessness of the unconscious, causal loops, the Oedipal myth and Oedipal development, and what Saad describes as the "sexualizing of asymmetric time"

Psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, a Bloomsbury/Rowman & Littlefield publication, discusses the fraught cottage industry of personality disorder and addiction treatment training, lambasting in particular certificate programs that are reductive of complex phenomena

Psychoanalyst Graeme Daniels, lead author of the book Getting Real About Sex Addiction (published by Rowman & Littlefield), excoriates the California Superior Court, which has once again delayed its trial of AB 1775, a 2015 law that amended now forty five year old child abuse laws to oblige psychotherapists to violate the confidentiality of patients who report viewing sexual material that depicts minors. Daniels paraphrases the case brief from the case plaintiffs that lays out the reasons this law should be ruled unconstitutional and overturned. The state is procrastinating!

Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, a Rowman & Littlefield/Bloomsbury publication, talks psychoanalysis, masculine ego, psychosis and addiction, with Portuguese psychologist Pedro Job, relating these subjects to the film and play, Dr. Strangelove. 

In this follow-up to his discussion with AB1775 plaintiff Don Mathews, Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, a Rowman & Littlefield publication, speaks of laws that inhibit proper use of mental treatment, the implications for mandated treatment episodes, plus the problem of people being deterred from proper treatment altogether.

Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, published by Rowman & Littlefield, interviews Don Mathews, plaintiff in the forthcoming case against the state of California and a 2015 law originally named Assembly Bill 1775. This case, a decade in the making, is about privacy rights and psychotherapy versus the state's efforts to police child pornography

Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, published by Rowman & Littlefield, reads an email from a disgruntled impacted partner about responses to Esther Perel's State of Affairs. From this, Daniels discusses the problem of integrating perspectives amid a treatment culture that fosters taking sides. 

Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, discusses factions within the fields of sex addiction/infidelity treatment: the factions that purport to represent acting out or addicted individuals or their impacted partners. A typical scenario explored from two sides illustrates ideological biases and tacit rules.

In this episode, Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, published by Rowman & Littlefield, discusses the problem of being a neurotic--not controlling how you feel--which underlies many addictions, which is about not controlling behavior. He also discusses in the spirit of the season the celebrated loners of yuletide literature, and cautions that guilt as an intervention works much more in Hollywood than it does anywhere else

Graeme Daniels, lead author of Getting Real About Sex Addiction, published by Rowman & Littlefield, talks about the vagaries of sex addiction or infidelity treatment--its flawed premises and biases--particularly with respect to treatment efficacy, and offers an anecdotal vignette as to how a psychoanalytic treatment  might explore the mind of an addict in treatment.