Donald Carveth, Ph.D.

Donald Carveth, Ph.D., RP, FIPA is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at York University and training and supervising analyst at Toronto Psychoanalytic Institute and Society.  He is a graduate of University of Toronto.

He is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis and the former director of Toronto Psychoanalytic Institute. He is currently on the editorial boards of Psychoanalysis & Contemporary Thought, Free Associations, PSYART: A Hyperlink Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, The Journal of Psycho-Social Studies and Psychoanalytic Discourse. He is a member of International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) and American Psychological Association.

Dr. Carveth specializes in Psychoanalysis and Sociology and his interests are Aggression, Conflict, Peace; Emotion, Mood, Affect; Ethics and Morality; Group Processes; Organizational Behavior; Personality, Individual Differences; Political Psychology; Self and Identity and Social Networks.

He is the author of numerous papers and two books which have appeared among others in International Review of Psycho-Analysis, Sociological Inquiry, Theory & Society, Canadian Journal of Sociology, Psychoanalysis & Contemporary Thought, The Ontario Psychologist, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse, Modern Psychoanalysis.

His publications are:

Carveth, D. L. (2018). Psychoanalytic Thinking: A Dialectical Critique of Contemporary Theory and Practice. Routledge.

Carveth, D. L. (2018). The still small voice: Psychoanalytic reflections on guilt and conscience. Routledge.

“The Hobbesian Microcosm:  On the Dialectics of the Self in Social Theory.” Sociological Inquiry 47, (1977): 3-12. The Hobbesian Microcosm

“The Disembodied Dialectic:  A Psychoanalytic Critique of Sociological Relativism.”  Theory & Society 4, 3 (1977): 73-102.

“Sociology and Psychoanalysis:  The Hobbesian Problem Revisited.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 7, 2 (1982): 201-229.

“Psychoanalysis and Social Theory:  The Hobbesian Problem Revisited.” Psychoanalysis & Contemporary Thought 7,1 (1984): 43-98. Psychoanalysis and Social Theory

“The Analyst’s Metaphors:  A Deconstructionist Perspective.”  Psychoanalysis & Contemporary Thought 7, 4 (1984): 491-560. The Analyst’s Metaphors Translated into German and reprinted as: “Die Metaphern des Analytikers. Eine dekonstructionistische Perspektive.”  In: Buchholz MB (Hrsg).  Metaphernanalyse. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Reprinted in a special Ebook issue of PSYART: A Hyperlink Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts,Vol.  5 (2001), Ed. Burton A. Melnick & Norman N. Holland, Metaphor and Psychoanalysis

“Judith Rossner’s Portrait of the Psychoanalytic Process:  A Critical Appraisal.” The Ontario Psychologist 16, 6 (December, 1984): 15-18.

“The Epistemological Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Deconstructionist View of the Controversy.”  Philosophy of the Social Sciences 17 (1987): 97-115.

“In Reply to Eagle’s Reply.”  Philosophy of the Social Sciences  18 (1988): 377-78.

“Dead End Kids:  Projective Identification and Sacrifice in Orphans.” International Review of Psycho-Analysis 19, 2 (Summer 1992): 217-228.  Reprinted in: PSYART: A Hyperlink Journal for Psychological Study of the Arts

“The Borderline Dilemma in Paris, Texas: Psychoanalytic Approaches to Sam Shepard”.  Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Journal For the Study of Literature 25, 4 (Fall, 1992): 99-120.  Reprinted in the Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse., 1, 2 (1993): 19-46; and in: PSYART: A Hypertext Journal for Psychological Study of the Arts

“Discussion” of a paper by Jessica Benjamin as part of a symposium on “Female Psychology: New Psychoanalytic Perspectives.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 1, 1 (1993): 95-99.

“Dark Epiphany : The Encounter with Finitude or the Discovery of the Object in The Body.” Psychoanalysis & Contemporary Thought 17, 2 (Spring 1994): 215-250.  A section of this paper containing an exegesis of Winnicott’s complex and ambiguous thinking in “The Use of An Object and Relating Through Identifications” regarding the role of aggression in the transition from the subjective object, through transitional objects, to the objective object is available here: On Winnicott’s “The Use of An Object”

“Selfobject and Intersubjective Theory: A Dialectical Critique.  Part I: Monism, Dualism, Dialectic.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 2, 2 (1994): 151-168.

“Selfobject and Intersubjective Theory: Part 2, A Dialectical Critique of the Intersubjective Perspective.”  Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 3, 1 (1995): 43-70.

“Self Psychology and the Intersubjective Perspective: A Dialectical Critique.” In Progress in Self Psychology, Vol. 11. Ed. A. Goldberg.  Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1995, pp. 3-30. Self Psychology and the Intersubjective Perspective

“Psychoanalytic Conceptions of the Passions”. In Freud and the Passions, ed. J. O’Neill.  University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996, ch. 2., pp. 25-51.  Freud and the Passions

Discussion of “‘Someday…’ and ‘If only…’ Fantasies: Pathological Optimism and Inordinate Nostalgia as Related Forms of Idealization.” A paper by Salman Akhtar, M.D.  Presented at a scientific meeting of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society, February 17, 1996 and posted on the homepage of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society. Discussion of ‘Someday…’ and ‘If only…’ Fantasies

“What is valuable in self psychology and what isn’t?  One analyst’s opinions.” Contribution to the Disruption-Restoration Forum on the Self Psychology web page.  What is Valuable in Self Psychology and What Isn’t?

“Is There a Future in Disillusion?  Constructionist and Deconstructionist Approaches in Psychoanalysis.” JMKOR: Journal of Melanie Klein & Object Relations 16, 3 (September 1998): 555-587. A revised and expanded version appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis 27, 2 (1999): 325-358. Is There a Future in Disillusion?

“Freud’s Flawed Philosophy of Religion: A Reply to Rempel.”  Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 6, 1 (Spring 1998): 141-7. Freud’s Flawed Philosophy of Religion

Discussion of Seeman’s “The Psychological Uses of Literature.” Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes 62, 1 (Spring 1999): 83-95.

“Leaving Development to the Developmentalists: Sticking to What We Know in Psychoanalysis.”  Modern Psychoanalysis 25, 1 (2000): 43-51.  Leaving Development to the Developmentalists

Forster, Sophia E. & Donald L. Carveth.  “Christianity: A Kleinian Perspective.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 7, 2 (Fall,1999): 187-218.   Christianity: A Kleinian Perspective

Carveth, Donald L. & Naomi Gold.  “The Preoedipalizing of Klein in (North) America: Ridley Scott’s Alien Re-analyzed.”  PSYART: A Hypertext Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts (1999).  The Preoedipalizing of Klein in (North) America

“The Unconscious Need for Punishment: Expression or Evasion of the Sense of Guilt?” Psychoanalytic Studies 3, 1 (2001): 9-21.  Presented in September, 1999, at the International Conference on “Civilization and Its Discontents,” McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

“Some Reflections on Lacanian Theory in Relation to Other Currents in Contemporary Psychoanalysis.”  Journal of Psycho-Social Studies 1, 1 (2002).  First presented to a scientific meeting of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society in March 1987.  Some Reflections on Lacanian Theory

“The Melancholic Existentialism of Ernest Becker.”  Free Associations Vol. 11, Part 3,  No. 59 (2004): 422-29.  Becker

 “The Passion of the Christ: Psychoanalytic and Christian Existentialist Perspectives.”  In Passionate Dialogues: Critical Perspectives on Mel Gibson’s

The Passion of the Christ. D. Burston & R. Denova, Eds.  Pittsburgh: MISE Publications, 2005, pp. 171-178.   The Passion of the Christ 

“Is the Medium the Message in Psychoanalysis?”  Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 13, 2 (Winter 2005): 282-296.  Medium

“Paul Roazen: A Memoir.”  Clio’s Psyche 12, 3 (December 2005): 166-7.

“A Model for Psychohistorical Teaching: Commentary on David R. Beisel’s ‘Teaching About Groups’”  Clio’s Psyche 13, 1 (March 2006): 198-200.

“Psychoanalysis in Canada.” The Edinburgh International Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis, Ed. Ross M. Skelton.  Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Psychoanalysis in Canada

“The Foundations of Psychohistory: Positivism, Humanism, or Both?”  Clio’s Psyche 13, 1 (June 2006): 9-11. Foundations

“Donald Carveth: Psychoanalytic Sociologist.”  Featured Scholar, Interviewed by Paul H. Elovitz, Editor, Clio’s Psyche 13, 1 (June 2006): 66-74.

“Self-Punishment as Guilt Evasion: Theoretical Issues.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 14, 2 (Fall 2006): 172-96. Guilt Evasion I

“Retirement Fantasies.”  Clio’s Psyche 13, 3 (December 2006): 115-16.

Roundtable: What is Guilt? Participants: Donald Carveth, Marcia Cavell (moderator), Michael Eigen, Jay Greenberg, Michael Lewis, Philoctetes Center for the Study of the Imagination, New York, February 22nd, 2007.  Video:  Philoctetes – What is Guilt?

“Self-Punishment as Guilt Evasion: The Case of Harry Guntrip.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 15, 1 (Spring 2007): 56-76. Guilt Evasion II

“Degrees of Psychopathy vs. ‘The Psychopath.’” Comments on J. Reid Meloy’s “A Psychoanalytic View of the Psychopath.” Presented at the 18th Annual Day in Psychoanalysis, Toronto, April 28th, 2007.  Filmed and broadcast by TVOntario. Summarized as part of a conference report prepared by Prof. William Watson, Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 16, 1 (Winter 2008).  Psychopathy

“Aggression in Long-Term Relationships.”  Special issue on Love, Hate and Attachment, Clio’s Psyche 16, 3 (March 2009).

“Superego, Conscience and the Nature and Types of Guilt.” Modern Psychoanalysis 35, 1 (2010): 106-130.

“How Today May We Distinguish Healthy Sexuality from ‘Perversion’?” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 18, 2 (Fall 2010): 296-305.

“Consumer Capitalism: Removing Impediments to Oral-Narcissistic Pleasure.” Clio’s Psyche 17, 4 (March 2011):28-300.

“Concordant and Complementary Countertransference: A Clarification.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 20, 1 (Spring 2012): 70-84.

Reductionism and Conscientious Politics.” Responses to James Anderson’s, “The Artistic Creativity of Arthur Miller.” Clio’s Psyche 18, 3 (December 2011): 260-262.

“On the Psychoanalytic Sociology of Eli Sagan.” Clio’s Psyche 18, 3 (December 2011): 357-361.

Freud: More Hellenistic than Hebraic.” Response to James Anderson’s, “The Influence of Jewishness on Freud’s Thought.” Clio’s Psyche 19, 2 (September 2012): 220-223.

“Freud’s and Our Paranoid Myth of ‘the Beast’.”  Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 20, 1 (Spring 2012): 153-157.

What is Psychoanalysis?  Forthcoming (2015) in a collection entitled “Being Psychoanalytic: Philosophy, Science, Art,” Boston: Pen and Anvil Press.

Guilt. Vocabulary For the Study of Religion (2015).

“Social and Historical Influences on Psychoanalytic Thought.” Clio’s Psyche 20, 3 (December 2013): 253-262.

“Income Inequality and Reduced Democracy.” Contribution to Symposium “Are We More or Less Civilized?” Clio’s Psyche 21, 3 (December 2014): 267-8.

Freud’s ‘Civilization and Its Discontents’–A Kleinian Re-View.” Clio’s Psyche 21, 3 (December 2014): 328-333.

The Immoral Superego: Conscience as the Fourth Element in the Structural Theory of the Mind.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 23, 1 (Spring, 2015): 206-223.

My Mentor Eli Sagan (1927-2015): In Memoriam.” Clio’s Psyche 22, 1-2 (June-September 2015): 110-115.

The Cartesian Chasm: Karl Stern’s Understanding of the Roots of Our Cultural Pathology.” Inaugural lecture of the Karl Stern Lecture Series at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, October 9th, 2015. Forthcoming in a collection of the Stern Lectures.

“The Child Within Doesn’t Exist”: Deconstructing Analytic Constructions/’L’enfant intérieur’ n’existe pas’: Déconstruire les Constructions AnalytiquesPsychoanalytic Discourse/Discours Psychanalytique 1 (October 2015).

“Why We Should Stop Conflating the Superego with the Conscience.” Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society  22, 1 (March, 2016): 15–32.

 “Attacks on Separating: Supplementing Bion’s ‘Attacks on Linking’.” Psychoanalytic Discourse/Discours Psychanalytique 2 (May 2016)

“Bion, Britton, and the Neo-Kleiinian Model of the Mind: A Dialectical Critique. Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis/Revue Canadienne de Psychanalyse 24, 2 & 25, 1 (Spring, 2015): 158-171.

“Beyond Nature and Culture: Fromm’s Existentialism.” Psychoana.l Rev. 104(4):485-501. Online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28746010

Hantman, J. & D. Carveth. (2002).”Transcending the Dangers of the Dyad: Enhancing Therapeutic Triangulation By Working Individually With Patients in Relationships.”  Modern Psychoanalysis 27, 1 ( 2002): 31-49.  Transcending the Dangers of the Dyad

Carveth, D. & J. Hantman (2003). “Fugitives From Guilt: Postmodern De-Moralization and the New Hysterias.”  American Imago 60, 4 (Winter 2003): 445-80.

Hantman, J. & D. Carveth (2006). “Marriage-at-a-Distance.”  Clio’s Psyche 13, 1 (March 2006): 169-174.